When 25-year-old Brock Purdy and 44-years-young Philip Rivers opened up on Monday night, an offensive donnybrook for all ages commenced.
Through 30 minutes, Purdy's San Francisco 49ers and Rivers' Indianapolis Colts had combined for 444 yards of offense, including 340 passing yards, 41 points and five passing touchdowns.
Eventually, the old gunslinger and his Colts just couldn't keep up with the red-hot Purdy and the Niners, who won their fifth straight game thanks in large part to their quarterback's five-touchdown evening in Monday's 48-27 win over Indy.
"It was pretty close to a perfect game," Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan said of Purdy's performance.
Purdy was 25 of 34 for 295 yards and the five TD tosses to four different pass catchers. The one glaring blemish on Purdy's sensational showing was an interception in the fourth quarter. He became the first 49ers QB to throw for five touchdowns since Steve Young tossed six in Super Bowl XXIX to end the 1994 season.
On three previous occasions, Purdy had thrown four touchdowns. Unsurprisingly, the 49ers are now 4-0 when Purdy tosses four-plus TDs.
When Monday night kicked off, Purdy came out firing, answering an impressive opening salvo from Rivers in which the comeback kid was 5 of 7 for 73 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown to Alec Pierce. Purdy and Co. countered with a 69-yard touchdown drive that ended with a Demarcus Robinson 22-yard score.
Rivers, who came out of retirement as a high school football coach and was playing Monday in only his second game since 2020, was close to returning for the 49ers team he was facing back in the 2023 playoffs. That initial dalliance with unretirement would have come to fruition had the 49ers advanced to the Super Bowl as each of the team's quarterbacks were injured, including Purdy. Alas, the Eagles defeated the 49ers, and Rivers' return was delayed until 2025.
When he took the field against the 49ers, Rivers came out swinging and slinging.
After Indy's first three drives, Rivers had thrown two touchdowns -- both to Pierce. It was River's first game with multiple TDs since Dec. 20, 2020, against the Houston Texans.
Purdy knew he had to keep firing back.
"When I saw him doing that the first couple of drives, I was like, 'That's a Hall of Fame quarterback right there.'" Purdy said. "Like going through his reads and making you pay. So, it was how can we go and be our best on offense every drive and go at the beginning of the drive to go score."
Purdy was at his best, piloting the 49es to touchdowns on their first three drives and a field goal on the fourth. He didn't simmer, either, throwing his fifth touchdown to Christian McCaffrey in the fourth quarter as San Francisco took a commanding 41-27 lead.
Purdy's pick came on the 49ers' second-to-last drive, but a Dee Winters pick-six on the ensuring drive stomped out any thoughts of a miraculous Rivers-led rally.
Turf toe led to two stints on the sideline this year for Purdy, who missed a combined eight games. At times upon returning he wasn't crisp, notably in a three-interception showing during a 20-9 win over the Carolina Panthers in Week 12 and a ho-hum Week 13 outing against the Cleveland Browns when he completed only 55.2% of his passes.
Since the Week 14 bye, though, Purdy has been in prime form.
Over the past two games in victories against the Tennessee Titans and Colts, Purdy is 2-0, has completed 75% of his passes (48 of 64) for 590 yards (295 yards per game), eight touchdowns, one INT and a 136.1 rating.
"I think he's operating at an incredibly high level," tight end George Kittle said.
The 49ers have booked a return trip to the playoffs after missing out last season. They still have opportunities to win the NFC West and the conference's top seed. Such as was the case Monday, with Purdy performing like he is, the 49ers are playing at a level unseen since the 2023 campaign when they reached the Super Bowl.
"He's unbelievable," Shanahan said. "He looks like how I remember, the ball always goes to the right spot. He lets it go as fast as anyone. He can understand almost every coverage you're in. He got them into so many good plays today. The ball was coming out and he's amazing."
