The 49ers will face better defenses than the Indianapolis Colts unit they shredded on Monday Night Football in the playoffs, and they will face quarterbacks better equipped to beat them than a 44-year-old
Philip Rivers. Yet, if the Niners are to go deep into the postseason, then the primetime blowout of Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium served as the blueprint for how they will likely do it.
It’s not new information that, given the injuries the 49ers have on the defensive side of the ball and their largely underwhelming pass rush resources, the offense is going to need to carry the load in the playoffs.
Brock Purdy and Co. did that and then some against the Colts, eviscerating Indianapolis for 440 total yards at an average 6.7 yards per play with Purdy throwing for a career-high five touchdown passes.
Of course, it would be unrealistic to expect that kind of output in the postseason, or even in the final two weeks of the season when the 49ers will face two of the league’s better defenses in those of the Chicago Bears and the Seattle Seahawks.
Though expectations around the offense may need to be dialed back — especially if George Kittle’s ankle injury proves to be a problem that keeps him on the sideline — San Francisco’s performance in Indianapolis had the balance the 49ers will require in order to threaten to make the Super Bowl at their home stadium.
49ers get help from all three phases
The balance was titled decidedly in the direction of an outstanding offensive effort, one in which they scored on all but two possessions (excluding kneel downs at the end of the game) and did not punt. Yet, even in a game in which the 49ers struggled to stop a Colts offense led by Rivers for long periods, the two other phases made a substantial difference.
Ji’Ayir Brown’s forced fumble on a first-quarter kick return, which set up a Purdy touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey, marked another highpoint in an excellent season for special teams, while the defense recovered from a rough start, with just one of the Colts’ final seven offensive possessions ending in a touchdown.
That is not to say this was any kind of stellar defensive effort from the 49ers. There were big problems in the secondary with Renardo Green out with a neck injury, and the defensive front took longer than the Niners would have liked to get going against a banged-up Colts O-Line.
But from CJ West’s first career sack, to the excellent performance of slot corner Upton Stout — who registered two pass breakups — Alfred Collins’ strip sack of Rivers and Dee Winters’ game-sealing pick-six, the defense made enough splash plays to get the job done. Robert Saleh’s group gave up yardage and gave up points, but it eventually found ways to limit the damage.
Asked if that was the 49ers’ most complete team game, Collins said afterwards: “Yeah, we played together. Offense did good things, special teams did good things, defensive did good things. We still got a lot of work to do, but it was a great game all together.”
Not quite perfect, but close enough
The defensive showing still provided the 49ers with reason for frustration, particularly in the early going when San Francisco consistently struggled to get off the field on third and long, giving up a touchdown to tie the game at 14-14 on third-and-16.
Yet Kyle Shanahan was still delighted with the strides that group made over the course of the game.
“Yeah, I do,” Shanahan said when asked if he thought things got better for the defense as the game progressed.
“I thought we played a little bit more man in the second half. Any time – I don’t remember what it was exactly, I think it was like a third-and-7, third-and-16, maybe a third-and-10, (Philip) Rivers, you got to slow down. He was hot, and then they made those big third downs, which you’re going to get blown out if that keeps happening.
“And I thought the second half we tightened up, played a little bit more man, did a real good job in that, made some stops in the red zone. And they didn’t run it a ton, but when they did run it, we shut it down. So I’m real proud of the guys with that.”
The 49ers’ defense showed an ability to adapt and improve while still missing two cornerstones in Nick Bosa and Fred Warner. Thanks to the performance of the Purdy, those in-game strides were enough for victory.
“He did awesome, man,” Shanahan said of Purdy.
“Played really well. Got on him for a couple he missed, but it was pretty close to a perfect game. So he did a hell of a job.”
Purdy wasn’t quite perfect, and neither were the 49ers. But, in terms of an illustration of what playoff wins might need to look like for San Francisco this season, this was close to a perfect example.
