By MICHAEL MAROT AP Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS — Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers kept winning and did their neighbors to the south a favor in the process.
One day after the 49ers clinched a playoff spot, Brock Purdy threw a career-high five touchdown passes and Dee Winters returned an interception of Philip Rivers’ final pass 74 yards for a score in a 48-27 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Monday night. The result clinched playoff spots for three AFC teams: the Chargers, Buffalo and Jacksonville, all of whom are 11-4.
“He was awesome, he played really well,” Coach Kyle Shanahan said, describing Purdy’s play. “I got on him for a couple throws he missed, but it was pretty close to a perfect game. He did a hell of a job.”
San Francisco (11-4) has won five straight to stay competitive for both the NFC West title and the conference’s top seed. It also snapped a five-game losing streak in the series that dated to former Colts coach Jim Mora’s infamous “playoffs” rant in November 2001.
The biggest reason: Purdy’s sensational play.
He completed 25 of 34 passes for 295 yards as San Francisco produced 440 total yards and didn’t punt for a second straight week. Christian McCaffrey rushed 21 times for 117 yards and had six catches for 29 yards and two scores. George Kittle added seven receptions for 115 yards and one TD.
And aside from Purdy’s lone interception, the 49ers’ offense seemed to do anything it wanted against Indy’s defense.
“We’ve got to be better,” Colts coach Shane Steichen said. “Bottom line, we can’t give up that many yards. They scored a lot of points, went up and down the field and we’ve got to get that cleaned up in a hurry. Our defense played great last week and then this week … we’ve got to be better.”
The 44-year-old Rivers sure didn’t make it easy on San Francisco in his second game back after a five-year layoff. He was 23 of 35 for 277 yards, two TDs and the one interception. But he also couldn’t pull the Colts (8-7) out of a late-season swoon that has nearly ended their playoff hopes.
Indy has lost five straight games and six of its past seven.
Rivers started strong in a wild first half, throwing the first of two touchdown passes to Alec Pierce, a 20-yarder on the opening series. Pierce finished with four receptions for 86 yards and two scores.
Purdy countered with a 22-yard scoring pass to Demarcus Robinson and, after a Colts fumble, a 2-yard TD pass to McCaffrey to make it 14-7. Rivers tied the score early in the second quarter by neatly fitting a 16-yard throw to Pierce in a tight window.
Purdy then broke the tie with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Kittle and the teams traded field goals before Eddie Pineiro’s 64-yard attempt hit the crossbar as time expired in the first half with the 49ers leading 24-17.
San Francisco was just as efficient in the second half. Purdy capped the first possession with a 15-yard TD pass to Jauan Jennings to take control with a 31-17 lead.
Jonathan Taylor’s 1-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter cut Indy’s deficit to 34-27, but the 49ers sealed it with a 9-yard touchdown pass to McCaffrey with 7:37 to play and Winters’ interception return with 3:26 to play.
“It was cool to be out here playing against Philip Rivers and the Colts,” Purdy said. “To go out and execute like we did, I’m really proud of these guys, everyone. Our defense, the turnover at the end of the game with Dee Winters, huge win for us.”
INJURY REPORT
49ers: Kittle injured his ankle while making a cut during the third quarter, and linebacker Tatum Bethune injured his right ankle late in the third quarter.
Colts: Indy opened the game without either of its starting offensive tackles – Braden Smith (concussion) and Bernhard Raimann (elbow) – then lost center Tanor Bortolini with a concussion on the third offensive play of the game. Then they lost starting right guard Dalton Tucker with shoulder injury in the second half. The Colts also lost defensive end JT Tuimoloau with an oblique injury in the first half.
STAT SHEET
49ers: Purdy has seven touchdown passes in the last two games, the most over a two-game stretch by a 49ers quarterback since 2001. … San Francisco has scored in 22 consecutive quarters, its longest streak since 1995.. … For the second straight week, Thomas Morstead did not punt.
Colts: Taylor’s touchdown early in the fourth quarter gave him 17 rushing scores this season, breaking a tie with Hall of Famer Lenny Moore for the second-highest single season total in franchise history. … Indy lost its first game of the season when topping the 20-point mark.
UP NEXT
The 49ers host the surging Chicago Bears on Saturday night in a possible playoff preview.
The Colts close out the home portion of their schedule on Sunday against AFC South leading Jacksonville.