Brock Purdy's career-high five TD passes power 49ers past Philip Rivers' Colts on 'Monday Night Football'

San Francisco leads 48-27 with 3:26 left to play. Philip Rivers played high-level football at 44-years-old, but it wasn't enough to counter Brock Purdy's five-touchdown night. 

Purdy, who had been playing a near-perfect game, threw high for wide receiver Kendrick Bourne, and Colts safety Cam Bynum picked the pass off following the deflection off of Bourne's hands. 

San Francisco defensive tackle Alfred Collins' strip-sack of Phillip Rivers down to the Colts' five derailed Indianapolis' opportunity to answer Purdy's fifth passing touchdown. Following Indianapolis' punt, the 49ers take over on the Colts' 44 up 14, 41-27, with 7:37 left to play. 

Purdy hit a wide open Christian McCaffrey for from nine yards out to put the 49ers back up 14, 41-27 with 7:37 left to play. Purdy's career-high five passing touchdowns against the Colts on Monday make him the first San Francisco quarterback with a five-passing touchdown game since Hall of Famer Steve Young threw a record six passing touchdowns in a Super Bowl XXIX victory over the Chargers. 

Indianapolis sustained the longest scoring drive of the night for either team, 12 plays, and they finished off the possessions with a one-yard rushing touchdown by the NFL's rushing touchdown leader Jonathan Taylor. Taylor's rushing touchdown is just his second in the Colts' last five games. The Colts trail 34-17 with 12:41 left to play. 

Purdy tied his career-high with his fourth passing touchdown of the night on the opening drive of the second half. Facing a third-and-goal from three, he hit wide receiver Jauan Jennings on a perfectly thrown out route to the front right corner of the end zone. The 49ers lead 31-17 with 10:58 to play in the third quarter. 

The Colts cut the 49ers' lead to seven, 24-17, entering the half, which is crucial with San Francisco getting the football to start the second half. Pineiro just missed on a career-long field goal from 64 yards out.

Rivers had Warren on a corner route, but he just underthrew the first-round rookie tight end with the 49ers' pass rush hurrying the 44-year-old's footwork. Had the ball gotten to Warren, Indianapolis would have had a first-and-goal.

The Colts punted on their latest drive, the first for either team, and the 49ers settled for a 25-yard field goal just now for their first non-touchdown drive of the night. San Francisco leads 24-14 with 1:51 left to play in the first half. Indianapolis needs to find points on their final drive of the half with the 49ers primed to begin the third quarter with the football. 

Purdy, who has historically struggled on "Monday Night Football" throughout his career, is lighting up the Indianapolis Colts. All three of the San Francisco 49ers' drives have ended in Purdy passing touchdowns. This time, he squeezed a play-action rollout throw in between two Colts defenders in the right corner of the end zone to All-Pro tight end George Kittle. Kittle coming back to the football made the difference between Purdy's pass resulting in a touchdown instead of an interception. 

San Francisco leads 21-14 with 9:36 left in the half. 

Two drives, two passing touchdowns from Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers to wide receiver Alec Pierce. The second scoring strike between the two comes on a third-and-goal from 16 yards out with Pierce cooking his man on a post route to the middle of the end zone. Pierce has his first multi-receiving touchdown game in his fourth NFL season, and Rivers is cooking. He's thrown for 137 yards and two touchdowns while completing 10 of his first 15 throws. That's already more passing yards than he had all of last week (12) in the Week 15 loss at the Seattle Seahawks.

The game is tied at 14 with 14:07 left before halftime. 

Purdy capitalized on the short field and completed both of his throws for 13 more yards, including a two-yard touchdown pass underneath to All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey in the front of the end zone. Purdy is still throwing a perfect game with five completions on five throws for 68 yards and two touchdowns. The 49ers lead 14-7 with 4:33 left in the opening quarter. 

San Francisco safety Ji'Ayir Brown punched the football out of Indianapolis returner Ameer Abdullah, and tight end Jake Tonges jumped on the loose ball for the takeaway. San Francisco begins their second drive of the game at the Colts' 26 in a 7-7 game.

Brock Purdy completed all three of his passes on the 49ers' opening drive for 54 yards with the last going for 22 yards and a touchdown to wide receiver Demarcus Robinson. Robinson beat his man on a post route over the middle, and Purdy connected with him in stride with ease for the game-tying score. It's 7-7 with 7:14 remaining in the first quarter. 

Rivers caught San Francisco offsides, and he immediately went deep to Pierce, the NFL's leader in yards per catch (20.1), for a 20-yard scoring strike on the seam route to the middle of the end zone. Indianapolis leads San Francisco 7-0 after the opening drive. Rivers completed five of his first seven throws for 73 yards, including the 20-yard touchdown to Pierce. He's getting the football out quickly and decisively early on. 

Philip Rivers and Jonathan Taylor will begin the night against the San Francisco 49ers with the football. 

Rivers, also receives a restart to his five-year, NFL health insurance coverage. That's not a bad deal for the 44-year-old father of 10 and grandfather of one fresh off the couch after five years off. 

Phillip Rivers contract 2025: How much the 44-year-old QB is making in brief Colts return

Bryan DeArdo

Indianapolis three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner has been out since Week 10 with a neck injury, but the Colts activated him to return from injured reserve on Monday. That's big boost to the Colts' defense, especially in the run game against Christian McCaffrey. 

San Francisco 49ers All-Pro edge rusher Nick Bosa tore his ACL in Week 4. As a result the 49ers have just 15 sacks in 2025, the fewest through 14 games since 1982. Since Week 4, the first game without Bosa, the 49ers rank dead last in quarterback pressure rate (27.6%).

San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey is one of three players in NFL history with over 800 yards rushing (922) and over 800 yards receiving (820) through 14 games of a season joining Roger Craig (1985) and Marshall Faulk (1998). Craig was a second team All-Pro in 1985, and Faulk was a second team All-Pro in 1998. McCaffrey is fourth in the league in scrimmage yards (1,742) and first in the NFL in touches (345) with 24 more than Bijan Robinson's 321.

McCaffrey is on pace for 418 touches in 2025, which would be a historic workload for a few reasons:

• Would be 1st player with 400+ touches since himself in 2019 (403)
• Would be most touches by any player since 2014 DeMarco Murray (449)
• Would be 1st player since LaDainian Tomlinson (three) with multiple seasons of 400+ touches
• Would be 1st player in NFL history with 400+ touches after playing fewer than five games in previous season (excludes rookies)

After battling a turf toe injury, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy enters Week 16 with a 5-1 record, 12 touchdown passes and 7 interceptions in 2025. He has lost three of his five starts on "Monday Night Football" while throwing 5 touchdowns to 11 interceptions.  Even in a Week 12 home win on MNF against the Carolina Panthers, he threw an interception on three consecutive drives. Of Purdy's 34 career interceptions, 32% of them (11) have come on "Monday Night Football." Only Tommy Kramer (13) has thrown more interceptions in his first five "Monday Night Football" starts than Purdy. 

* Second-most interceptions in first five starts on MNF all-time

If the 49ers win out from here until Super Bowl LC, they will have not had to play away from Levi's Stadium in 48 days. Monday's game is currently their last scheduled game away from home. Monday against the Colts will be interesting because it will provide San Francisco the opportunity for their first win against a team with a winning record since Week 5 at the Los Angeles Rams. 

* Would mark 48 days since last game away from Levi's Stadium

Jonathan Taylor leads the NFL with 16 rushing touchdowns and ranks second in rushing yards with 1,443. However, he's been struggling during the Colts' four-game losing streak. He has four consecutive games under 100 yards rushing during the streak. Taylor's 92.1 career rushing yards per game average ranks as the fourth-most in NFL history. 

Indianapolis has seen their playoff chances fall off a cliff during their four-game losing streak, and a home loss on Monday against the San Francisco 49ers would all but eliminate them from postseason contention. That would make the Colts the first team in 30 years to miss the playoffs after an 8-2 or better start. The last team to do so was the 1995 Raiders. 

Rivers was just 2 for 8 passing with an interception on throws of 10-plus air yards in Week 15. He was also 1 for 5 for two yards when pressured. Of his 120 yards passing, he went 9 for 10 with 36 yards when throwing behind the line of scrimmage while he was 9 for 17 for 84 yards on all other throws. 

Rivers threw for 120 yards, one touchdown and one interception while completing 18 of his 27 throws in an 18-16 defeat against the Seattle Seahawks after an 1,800 day layoff, the longest by a quarterback 40 years or older all-time. It was his fewest passing yards in a game in nearly 16 years (99 in Week 17 of the 2009 season against Washington). 

Colts running back Jonathan Taylor (1,761 yards from scrimmage) and 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (1,742 yards from scrimmage) are two of the NFL's top-five all-purpose backs this season, and they'll take center stage on "Monday Night Football."