The San Francisco 49ers began the second quarter facing a third and four. Brock Purdy handed off to Christian McCaffrey who powered inside for a three yard gain, but they ran that play knowing full well they’d go for it. On fourth and one, Purdy tried to sneak it and was stuffed for no gain to give the Denver Broncos the ball back with great field position.
Denver would follow that up with a three-and-out helped along by another dumb penalty — this time a false start on third and three that turned
into third and eight where the 49ers sent the house to force the punt.
J.K. Dobbins got his first carry of the game to start Denver’s next drive that went for no gain. Jaylen Waddle then got into the mix to gain nine yards after breaking a tackle. Then on third and inches, yet another pre-snap penalty on Denver would wipe out what should have been an easy conversion. Nix would use his legs to convert anyway picking his way through some blocks to dive forward for the first down.
Back to back runs by Dobbins would bring up a third and two at midfield. Nix would give it to Tyler Badie to move the chains and keep that drive alive as the close ticked down to the six minute mark in the first half. The drive would stall from there, though, and they’d be punting it back to give the 49ers a chance to put points on the board before halftime. San Francisco would get the ball back to start the second half too.
In the two minute offense, the 49ers charged down the field to get into scoring position before halftime. The Broncos defense held in the red zone to force the field goal.
Broncos 3, 49ers 3.
The Broncos used all their timeouts to preserve as much time on the clock for a final two minute drive. They would take over at their own 20 with about 90 seconds left. They’d move the ball a little, but wouldn’t get much further and punted it away after less than a minute of possession.
Pat Surtain II would go down with a non-contact injury on the 49ers final possession where they’d get a field goal attempt at a 54-yard field at the end of the half to take a lead into halftime. Denver’s special teams was able to block it to keep the score tied.
