Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey have big night against Colts

INDIANAPOLIS — THE san francisco 49ers‘Long wait for Monday night’s game against indianapolis colts When. made very easy pittsburgh steelers finished off detroit lions to seal the Niners’ berth in the NFC playoffs on Sunday night.

Lest the Niners seem content to simply punch their ticket to the dance, they trounced the Colts on Monday with much bigger goals in mind. Get more assists at 11-4 Seattle Seahawkswin against Los Angeles Rams On Thursday night, the 49ers now have a direct line to the NFC’s top seed.

That route doesn’t need much explaining: If the 49ers win their next two games — against home competition. Chicago Bears And the Seahawks – they’ll clinch the NFC West division and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Additionally, Super Bowl LX will be played at Levi’s Stadium, so if the Niners can clinch the top seed, they won’t need to get on a plane again this season.

Of course, the Niners will face much tougher tests than they did on Monday night against the Bears and Seahawks. But if the offense can stay healthy and keep going – the Niners have not punted in more than 133 minutes of playing time – they will have a chance to find themselves in an ideal situation entering the postseason.

What to know from both teams after the 49ers beat the Colts on Monday night:

turn: In a game that looked destined to be a shootout after the first two drives, the Niners, who had the ball second, took their first lead of the night by scoring on their first takeaway midway through the first quarter.

With 7:14 left in the opening quarter, the Colts returner. Ameer Abdullah Received the kickoff and cut inside as a Niners safety jiayer brown Remained under control and redirected towards Abdullah. Brown reached in and knocked the ball loose like a tight end Jake Tonges Indianapolis recovered as 26. Five plays later, the Niners scored again to take a 14–7 lead.

What is meant by QB performance: “Monday Night Football” hasn’t been kind to quarterbacks brock purdy Recently, because he had thrown five touchdowns and 11 interceptions in his last five appearances entering this game.

But Purdy shrugged off those troubles against a weak Colts secondary, posting the first five-touchdown game of his career. He is the first Niners quarterback to throw five scores on MNF and the first Niners quarterback to throw five or more touchdowns in a regular season or playoff game since Steve Young in Super Bowl XXIX against the Chargers.

Purdy completed 25 of 34 passing for 295 yards with one interception.

Most Amazing Performance: The 49ers’ run game has struggled to find hold all season, and Monday didn’t seem like the most unlikely time for a change against a Colts defense that entered tied for second in yards per carry (3.8).

But San Francisco’s offensive line was up to the task of running back Christian McCaffrey Enjoying his second best rushing effort of the season. The Niners finished with 145 yards on 31 carries.

McCaffrey, who rushed for 117 yards on 21 carries, surpassed 1,000 rushing yards for the season, the fifth time he has done so in his career. –Nick Wagner

Next game: vs. Chicago Bears (8:20 PM ET, Sunday,

The Colts’ high expectations early this season have almost evaporated. With Monday night’s loss, Indianapolis moved to the brink of elimination from the playoffs; According to ESPN Analytics, its playoff chances are now estimated at 2%.

Colts bring in 44-year-old quarterback philip rivers To help stop their crime Daniel Jones‘ Season-ending Achilles injury. But it turned out that other aspects of the team couldn’t keep up with Rivers under center. While Rivers kept his end intact, the Colts’ defense had its worst performance of the season. Indianapolis has yet to consider what another offseason might look like.

Biggest hole in the gameplan: The Colts chose to utilize a four-man pass rush, while often leaving their inexperienced and over-matched cornerbacks in man coverage against the 49ers’ receivers. It worked as expected, with Purdy tearing apart the secondary for five touchdown passes. The combination of a limited pass rush and inconsistent coverage allowed the 49ers to run the ball at will.

What is meant by QB performance: To say that Rivers played it close to the vest in its first game in five years last week would be an understatement. But on Monday night, he opened things up in a significant way, rushing the ball downfield after averaging just 4.4 yards per attempt in his previous game. Rivers completed 23 of 35 passes for 277 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

Viewing Trends: The Colts have suffered some bad seasons in recent seasons, and are on track to have one of their worst seasons yet this year. After starting 2025 8-2 and being in the conversation among title contenders, Indianapolis has now lost five in a row and seems destined to miss the playoffs again.

This continues the trend of late-season opportunities in 2021, 2023, and 2024, where the Colts were alive for the postseason in late December, but failed to reach the playoffs in each case. This year’s shortcomings were largely due to injuries, but the trend is tiresome nonetheless. –Stephen Holder

Next game: versus jacksonville jaguars ,1 pm ET, Sunday,