Brock Purdy threw a career-high five touchdown passes and Dee Winters returned an interception of Philip Rivers' final pass 74 yards for a score in a 48-27 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Monday night.
"He was awesome, he played really well," coach Kyle Shanahan said, describing Purdy's play. "I got on him for a couple throws he missed, but it was pretty close to a perfect game. He did a hell of a job."
San Francisco (11-4) have won five straight to stay competitive for both the NFC West title and the conference's top seed. It also snapped a five-game losing streak in the series that dated to former Colts coach Jim Mora's infamous "playoffs" rant in November 2001.
Indy's loss also clinched playoff spots for Buffalo, Jacksonville and the Los Angeles Chargers in the AFC.
Purdy completed 25 of 34 passes for 295 yards as San Francisco produced 440 total yards and didn't punt for a second straight week. Christian McCaffrey rushed 21 times for 117 yards and had six catches for 29 yards and two scores, while George Kittle added seven receptions for 115 yards and one touchdown.
And aside from Purdy's lone interception, the 49ers offense seemed to do anything it wanted against Indy's defense.
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The 44-year-old Rivers sure didn't make it easy on San Francisco in his second game back after a five-year layoff. He was 23 of 35 for 277 yards, two touchdowns and the one interception. But he also couldn't pull the Colts (8-7) out of a late-season swoon that has nearly ended their playoff hopes.
Indy have lost five straight and six of seven.
Rivers started strong in a wild first half, throwing the first of two touchdown passes to Alec Pierce, a 20-yarder on the opening series. Pierce finished with four receptions for 86 yards and two scores.
Purdy countered with a 22-yard scoring pass to Demarcus Robinson and, after a Colts fumble, a two-yard touchdown pass to McCaffrey to make it 14-7. Rivers tied the score early in the second quarter by neatly fitting a 16-yard throw to Pierce in a tight window.
Purdy then broke the tie with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Kittle and the teams traded field goals before Eddie Pineiro's 64-yard attempt hit the crossbar as time expired in the first half with the 49ers up 24-17.
San Francisco were just as efficient in the second half. Purdy capped the first possession with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jauan Jennings to take control with a 31-17 lead.
Jonathan Taylor's one-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter cut Indy's deficit to 34-27, but the 49ers sealed it with a nine-yard touchdown pass to McCaffrey with 7:37 to play and Winters' interception return with 3:26 to play.
"It was cool to be out here playing against Philip Rivers and the Colts," Purdy said. "To go out and execute like we did, I'm really proud of these guys, everyone. Our defense, the turnover at the end of the game with Dee Winters, huge win for us."
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