Brock Purdy throws career high 5 TD passes and leads 49ers to 5th straight win, 48-27 over the Colts

By Canadian Press on December 22, 2025.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — 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 to lead the San Francisco 49ers to a 48-27 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Monday night.

Purdy was 25 of 34 for 295 yards with one interception. Christian McCaffrey rushed 21 times for 117 yards and caught six passes for 29 yards and two scores. George Kittle had seven receptions for 115 yards and one TD.

The 49ers (11-4) won their fifth straight to stay in the chase for the NFC’s top seed, one day after clinching a playoff spot by virtue of Detroit’s loss to Pittsburgh. San Francisco also snapped a five-game losing streak in the series, beating Indy for the first time since Jim Mora’s infamous “playoffs” rant in November 2001.

But 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. The Colts (8-7) have lost five straight overall and six of their last seven as their playoff hopes continue to fade.

Their loss clinched playoff spots for Buffalo, Jacksonville and the Chargers.

Rivers opened the scoring with a 20-yard TD pass to Alec Pierce, who had four receptions for 86 yards and two scores. Purdy countered with a 22-yard scoring pass to Demarcus Robinson.

After the Colts fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, Purdy hooked up with McCaffrey for a 2-yard TD pass to make it 14-7 late in the first quarter. Rivers tied the score early in the second by neatly fitting a 16-yard throw to Pierce in a tight window. Purdy broke the tie with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Kittle.

Indy and San Francisco then traded late field goals and Eddie Pineiro’s 64-yard attempt hit the crossbar as time expired.

The track meet continued in the second half as Purdy capped the first possession with a 15-yard TD pass to Jauan Jennings, making it 31-17.

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.

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 RG Dalton Tucker with shoulder injury in the second half. The Colts also lost DE JT Tuimoloau with an oblique injury in the first half.

Stat sheet

49ers: Purdy has seven TD 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 TD early in the fourth 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 while topping the 20-point mark.

Up next

49ers: Host Chicago on Saturday night in a possible playoff preview.

Colts: Close out the home schedule Sunday against AFC South leading Jacksonville.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Michael Marot, The Associated Press