It’s crazy to think about, but there’s a parallel universe out there, maybe situated right next to ours, where Kyle Shanahan got exactly what he wanted: Mac Jones, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft; the player hand-picked by the Niners’ coach to be his team’s next franchise quarterback after Jimmy Garoppolo.

Now, that’s not the world we’re living in today. Not even close.

But on Sunday in New Orleans, for three hours, we might have broken the laws of space and time and gotten a little peek into that other universe.

Because there he was, Mac Jones, leading the 49ers’ offense to a gritty 26-21 win over the Saints.

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Now we all know that after Sunday, the less-than-scrupulous among us — and you probably know who they are — will start calling for Jones to take over as the starter for the $265 million man, Brock Purdy.

You can laugh at those attention-pining people. No, seriously, laugh at them.

But you know who else should get in a good, righteous laugh? Shanahan. Because he was right: The pairing of him and Jones just works.

More important than all of that, though, was the fact that having Jones out there brought out the best in Shanahan.

That’s what I found to be the most encouraging thing about the 49ers’ big tone-setting road win that saw contributions from all three phases. It wasn’t just the overall grittiness or the backups stepping up.

No, it was Shanahan, being, as the kids say, “in his bag.”

His game plan and play-calling were vintage Sunday. And a vintage Shanahan is as good as it gets.

It was a reminder that while the NFL still considers Shanahan to be an offensive mind at the vanguard, we’ve taken him for granted over the last few years here in the Bay.

With Purdy — a quarterback who can extend plays with his feet and wants to push the ball to all corners of the field — the need for Shanahan to dial up the perfect play at the perfect time hasn’t felt as necessary.

When it did happen, it certainly wasn’t as noticeable as back in the early days of Shanahan’s tenure with the Niners.

That makes sense — the offensive game plan and play-calling always look a lot better when you have a limited quarterback at the helm.

But Jones is the right kind of limited guy.

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And to be clear: That’s a compliment.

Yes, despite some beautiful layered throws and other tight-window passes he made Sunday, Jones still holds onto the ball for too long and can spray it around even with a clean pocket. He’s no scrub, but he’s not a game-changing quarterback, either.

He’s a backup. And he didn’t inherit Purdy’s talismanic powers or a superteam around him for Sunday’s game.

Jones needed all the help he could get.

Shanahan provided it.

The 49ers rushed for three yards a carry on Sunday, and that was with a standout performance from Christian McCaffrey. But that poor rushing output was also to be expected. The Niners were down their top tight end, George Kittle, their fullback, Kyle Juszczyk (concussion) and left guard Ben Bartch (ankle injury) in this game. Left tackle Trent Williams — the tentpole of the offensive line — was questionable to even play in this game with an ankle injury. Oh, and the Niners were facing a Saints defense built to stop the run, which they did.

“We had a number of things we had to change up,” Shanahan said. “We were scrambling there for a little bit.”

But the Niners won Sunday because their offense won on third down.

And not because of Jones’ scrambling, though he did have one nice gain that was both painful to watch and certainly ended with some pain for the quarterback.

Credit for that success should go to the players first, but with third down being, as Jones said, “the money down,” the circumstances also required Shanahan’s best.

Jones went 7-for-12 for 111 yards and three touchdowns on third downs, converting three third downs with 10 or more yards to gain.

It was all so terribly reminiscent of the Garoppolo era, when if Shanahan didn’t bring his A-game week after week, the Niners would lose. He brought it on Sunday, moving pieces around on the chessboard like grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, creating small but effective windows to attack amid what appeared to be chaos.

We don’t know how long Jones will be at the helm of the 49ers’ offense. It could be another week, or it could be for a month. Purdy’s sorta-kinda turf-toe injury is finicky.

But we don’t need to question if Shanahan still has it. His team is 2-0 because of him.

And even if this journey into the alternate universe only lasted a week, it opened our minds and reminded us of something that hasn’t been championed enough in recent years: When it comes to drawing up plays and calling them at the perfect time, Kyle Shanahan is still the top of his class.