INDIANAPOLIS – Brock Purdy followed Trent Williams into the 49ers’ victorious locker room, and once they shook owner Jed York’s hand in the doorway, Williams put his arm around Purdy’s shoulder as a proud teammate.
Williams certainly appreciated Purdy’s first career game with five touchdown passes, all of which were needed in a 48-27 win over the Colts.
Williams’ 16th year in the NFL will come with a playoff trip, perhaps even a Lombardi Trophy if the 49ers can win-win-win-win-win at home through Super Bowl LX.
“I mean you play the game to win the Super Bowl, right? There’s no second place, no third place, no consolation prize,” Williams said.
The more immediate prize is to secure the NFC’s No. 1 seed, and the 49ers (11-4) can do that by beating the Chicago Bears (11-4) on Sunday night and the Seattle Seahawks (12-3) in the regular-season finale.
“It’s not the end-all be-all, but it’s definitely important,” Williams said of the No. 1 spot. “We have two playoff teams coming up. I’m just more excited to see how we match up. Can we continue to play the football we’re proud of, the football we played tonight? There’s a great chance we could see one of those two teams in the playoffs.”
Here are 10 things that caught my eye in the 49ers’ greatest shootout since a 48-46 win six Decembers ago in New Orleans:
1. PURDY PERFECTION
Coach Kyle Shanahan praised Purdy for “pretty close to a perfect game,” with the five touchdown passes, seven scoring drives, 295 passing yards, and back-to-back runs to keep alive the go-ahead series.
“It’s awesome to see us in that groove, him trusting us, and Kyle giving him the OK to throw it every ball he wants,” wide receiver Demarcus Robinson said. “He made a heck of a day out of it, for sure.”
Four different receivers caught touchdowns, including Jauan Jennings, who said of Purdy’s gift giving: “It was definitely a Christmas-y night, I would say for sure.”
Williams said it best about Purdy’s command: “When you’re in the huddle, there’s only one voice speaking and you have 10 grown men staring at you. You can’t fool grown men, right? The confidence he has in that huddle, no matter what phase of the game, those long play calls, getting everybody where they need to be, from A to Z, he does it at a really high level.”
2. KITTLE’S ANKLE
Purdy’s 25th career touchdown pass to George Kittle came in the second quarter. Later in that quarter, Kittle hurt his ankle via a hip-drop tackle, and he eventually bowed out late in the third quarter.
Kittle said he did not sustain a high-ankle sprain, nor did he wear an orthopedic boot for support postgame and instead donned his high-top sneakers. Still, this is the biggest injury concern, all due respect to Ricky Pearsall’s right-knee issue.
Kittle caught 7-of-8 targets for 115 yards, their only miss being a near-touchdown. Purdy’s 144.6 passer rating when targeting Kittle this season is the highest between any QB-receiver duo in the last five seasons (minimum 50 targets), per NextGen Stats.
3. WINTERS’ WRIST
Linebacker Dee Winters’ 74-yard interception return can be credited to more than him recognizing Philip Rivers’ play call and instinctively jumping the route in the final minutes.
In pregame warmups, Winters had a cast on his left wrist that was preventing him from catching the ball. “It ricocheted off my palm and I couldn’t really close my hand, so I’m glad I took that off,” said Winters, whose wrist surfaced on the injury report Thursday and he wore a cast that practice.
Trainers thickly taped his wrist before kickoff. He had just three tackles, but he broke up two passes and came away with his first career interception and touchdown.
“It felt like a movie, honestly,” Winters added. “When I caught it, all I heard was my heartbeat, I just saw the end zone, and I said, ‘Let’s go score. Why not?’ ” Rivers waited for Winters to finish an on-field interview after the game to personally commend him.
4. CATCH A BREAK
Christian McCaffrey crested the 1,000-yard mark in rushing (1,039) but it’s doubtful he’ll double down and reach 1,000 receiving yards. He needs 151 receiving yards. Consider these numbers, tough:
McCaffrey’s two touchdown receptions increased his career total to 36, tying Marshall Faulk for the most in the Super Bowl era.
His six receptions Monday raised his team-high total to 92, matching Roger Craig’s 1985 mark for most in a 49ers season by a running back.
McCaffrey’s 372 touches are one shy of Frank Gore’s 2006 total and 15 away from breaking Roger Craig’s 1988 franchise record.
5. C.J. WEST ‘FAN BOY’
Defenders slouched on the 49ers’ bench after Rivers torched them for two touchdown passes on Indy’s first two drives. Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh told them to stop panicking. Then rookie defensive tackle C.J. West went and notched his first sack to key a three-and-out stop.
“I wasn’t letting him go no matter what,” West said. “ …To uplift the spirits and get everybody going again, that felt really good. After the game, I went up to (Rivers) and was like, ‘It was an honor to play against you, especially getting my first sack.’ That was huge. I was definitely fan-boy-ing a little bit.”
Fellow rookie Alfred Collins also got his first sack, forcing a fumble the Colts recovered with 6:42 remaining.
6. SPECIAL TEAMS
No punts for a second straight game? The 49ers had never pulled that off in the Super Bowl era until now. But their special teams still had a busy day:
Safety Ji’Ayir Brown forced a fumble on a kick return and Jake Tonges recovered – the first of their careers. That takeaway set up the 49ers’ second touchdown.
Kicker Eddy Piñeiro finally missed a field-goal attempt, but it took the crossbar to reject his 64-yard blast to close the first half. He made a 25-yarder to extend his 49ers’ start to 26-for-26 (third-best in franchise history) and, after his miss, he connected on a 38-yarder.
Representing the 49ers’ overhauled special teams in the Pro Bowl Games will be first-time honoree Luke Gifford (14 assisted tackles) and long snapper Jon Weeks, with return specialist Skyy Moore an alternate.
7. SCARCE PENALTIES
The 49ers got penalized just twice: Demmodore Lenoir (unnecessary roughness) for a late punch at the football on a Jonathan Taylor run for no gain, and, Darrell Luter Jr. (pass interference) on a third-down play before halftime. The 49ers did have penalties declined on both of Rivers’ touchdown throws – offside on Clelin Ferrell and pass interference by Luter, who started in place of an injured Renardo Green.
Penalties per game during this five-game win streak: one, two, three, six, two.
8. COACHING CHART
This was Shanahan’s first win in three games against Indianapolis. The only other franchises he’s yet to beat: the Kansas City Chiefs (0-5; 0-2 in Super Bowl), the Baltimore Ravens (0-2), the Buffalo Bills (0-2), the Los Angeles Chargers (0-1) and the Denver Broncos (0-1). Those latter three are already in the AFC playoffs.
Shanahan’s ninth season may not be his most challenging (see: 2020) but he and his staff are doing their best work in coaching up a gelling team. His 81 wins are third-most in 49ers history behind George Seifert (98) and Bill Walsh (92). In terms of 11-win seasons, Seifert had six, Shanahan four, Walsh three.
9. RIVERS’ VIEW
Jonathan Taylor fell out of the NFL rushing lead, and while the 49ers limited him to 46 yards on 16 carries, the slumping Colts let Rivers air it out in his Indianapolis debut after coming out of retirement their previous game. He used to practice against a similar scheme in his final years with the Chargers, whose defensive coordinator was Gus Bradley, who’s on the 49ers’ staff assisting Saleh.
“Theirs is a defense we’re very familiar in, of how to attack it,” Rivers said. “And again, you’ve got to give them credit because the name of the game is winning, and then that’s what they did. They got it done. But I did feel like offensively, we were going to be able to move the ball.”
Rivers passed for 277 yards, and he could have gotten much more if not for underthrown passes from his 44-year-old arm and body that are on a crash course back into the NFL.
“Physically obviously, you could see that he needed to get a little bit more on his throws or whatnot, in certain instances,” Purdy said. “But outside of that, he’s playing quarterback at a high level, making decisions and stuff. So, when I saw him doing that the first couple drives, I was like, ‘That’s a Hall of Fame quarterback right there, going through his reads and making you pay.’ So for me, it was how can we go and be our best on offense every drive and go – just the beginning of the drive, to go score.”
10. ELECTRIC AVENUE
Players refused to turn down Eddy Grant’s 1982 hit “Electric Avenue” as it blared in Arizona’s visitors’ locker room while Shanahan addressed the media in a neighboring room. Same song blared two weeks later after a win in Cleveland. So it was no surprise to hear it again after this one in Indianapolis as Kittle posed for a photo with McCaffrey and Kyle Juszczyk.
The song is on Kittle’s playlist, and why not? “It’s a good one,” Kittle beamed as he left the stadium.