Brock Purdy Stuns in Monday Night Thriller as 49ers Rout Colts

While Philip Rivers has been a great story in the NFL the last couple of weeks, Brock Purdy was the better one in the San Francisco 49ers 48-27 win over the Indianapolis Colts on Monday Night Football to wrap up Week 16. Despite the spotlight being on the two premier backs entering the contest, only one of the six touchdowns scored on the night by both teams was by rush – Colts’ Jonathan Taylor had one touchdown and rushed for 46 yards. Christian McCaffrey had a much better outing, with 21 carries for 117 yards and six receptions for 29 yards and two receiving touchdowns.

All of the scores for the 49ers came in the air by Purdy, who was 25-of-34 for 295 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. Purdy was simply outstanding in a game that keeps San Francisco alive for the No. 1 seed in the NFC, while Indianapolis is incredibly close to being eliminated. It was a game where 75 total points were scored, and the 49ers had plenty of reason to excuse some of those points with how injured the defense is. The zone defense allowed the Colts to creep in quite a bit, but once they were able to get pressure on Rivers, the game tilted heavily in San Francisco’s favor. And Purdy took advantage for a career-high night in touchdown passes. It was the most by a quarterback for the team since 1990 in the Super Bowl.

While the defenses were porous, the Niners took advantage in every way. They scored on seven of their first eight possessions. They haven’t punted on a possession since Nov. 30. Purdy, Jauan Jennings, George Kittle, and Christian McCaffrey felt absolutely unstoppable. Now unfortunately, Kittle got hurt and appeared to injure his ankle late in the game, eventually being ruled out. They’ll need him to close out the year against the Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks. But Purdy showed that he can make do with a variety of weapons that this gritty team has developed through a season that they should have never had a chance in.

This is a team who has lost every defensive star imaginable, their backups, and the backups to the backups. They lost Nick Bosa and Fred Warner early in the year. That should’ve been demoralizing enough. In addition to the mental wound that left, there was just no personnel left on the field at times this year. And yet, San Francisco is poised to make a run and win out to win the division. That’s a Coach of the Year worthy job by Kyle Shanahan.