INDIANAPOLIS — After a series of disappointing performances on Monday Night Football, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy shrugged off whatever issues he’d been having in resounding fashion on Monday night.
With 44-year-old Colts quarterback Philip Rivers and his comeback occupying most of the headlines entering Monday night’s matchup, it was Purdy who stole the show in leading San Francisco to a 48-27 victory at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Purdy finished 25-of-34 for 295 yards with five touchdowns and an interception as the Niners improved to 11-4 and put themselves in position to land the NFC’s No. 1 seed and home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
It was the first five-touchdown performance of Purdy’s career, and he became the first Niners quarterback to ever throw for five or more scores on a Monday night. He also became the first San Francisco signal caller since Steve Young in Super Bowl XXIX to toss five or more scores in any game.
“He did awesome,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “He played really well. I got on him for a couple [throws] he missed, but it was pretty close to a perfect game.”
That’s become a common refrain for Shanahan during the Niners’ five-game winning streak. In that span, the Niners have won each contest by double digits and averaged a league-high 34.4 points per game, best in the NFL.
After a rough outing against the Carolina Panthers on Nov. 25, Purdy has been locked in, throwing for nine touchdowns with one interception and posting an 85.7 QBR that’s second best in the NFL.
San Francisco’s offense has been so dominant in that stretch that they haven’t punted in 133 minutes and 35 seconds of game time. It’s the first time since at least 1950 that the 49ers have gone two straight games without punting, according to the Elias Sport Bureau, and they are one of six teams to accomplish that feat in the regular season during the Super Bowl era.
Purdy’s success after missing eight games with a big toe injury has the Niners believing he’s as close to healthy as he’s been all season. On Monday night, seeing was believing.
“When you’re in that huddle, it’s only one voice speaking,” left tackle Trent Williams said. “You’ve got 10 grown men staring at you and you can’t fool grown men. The confidence that he has in that huddle… from A to Z, he does it at a really high level. I say it all the time. He’s a godsend.”
Perhaps most encouraging Monday night was how Purdy did most of his damage. In his first six games this season, Purdy had two touchdowns and six interceptions on passes thrown 10-plus yards downfield.
Against the Colts, Purdy was on time and on target while taking plenty of deep shots. He finished 12-of-16 for 213 yards and a pair of touchdowns on such throws against the Colts injury-depleted secondary and finished with a season-high 9.4 air yards per attempt.
That he did it on Monday night undoubtedly alleviated any fears that Purdy would continue to struggle on that stage. In his previous five Monday contests, Purdy had thrown five touchdowns and 11 interceptions as the Niners had gone 2-3.
Purdy acknowledged after Monday’s win that he had a tendency to press in those situations, dating to the 2023 Christmas night loss to the Baltimore Ravens in which he threw four interceptions. He said he’s grown since.
“[I’m] not letting the environment or the situation of the season and the game dictate how I go out and think throughout a game,” Purdy said. “I feel like right now, I’ve got to be my best one play at a time. That Christmas game a couple years ago it was like, ‘Man, we’re on Christmas, Monday night, MVP talk, like hit a couple of completions early in the game and felt good.’ And then after that, I’m getting complacent with going through my reads and stuff and making the right decisions. [I] definitely have learned from that, but there’s always still room for improvement.”
As has been the case often this season, the 49ers didn’t leave Monday’s game without injury questions. Tight end George Kittle was in the midst of a seven-catch, 115-yard, one-touchdown performance when he departed in the third quarter with an ankle injury.
Kittle said he first injured the ankle earlier in the game when he believes he was hip drop tackled and though he tried to play through it, the pain got to a point where it no longer made sense to continue. He’s set for further tests when the team returns to the Bay Area on Tuesday.
“I don’t think it’s a high ankle sprain,” Kittle said. “We’ll take it one day at a time and we’ll go from there.”
The 49ers now turn their attention to hosting the Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks to close out the regular season. Wins in both would secure the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs and the entire postseason would go through Levi’s Stadium, home of Super Bowl LIX.
It’s something that seemed far-fetched for the Niners only about six weeks ago but is within reach, albeit against more difficult competition.
“When you know you’re in the playoffs, you shift your goals next and that’s trying to make the playoffs the best situation you possibly can,” Shanahan said. “We’d love to try to play a home game at Levi’s. We knew the only way to do that was to win tonight versus Colts. We got that done.”