For 30 minutes, Sunday’s matchup between the Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers was a defensive slugfest.
Brock Purdy and the 49ers offense eventually broke through. Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos fell short of another comeback as the 49ers improved to 4-0 with a 24-14 win in the matchup of Super Bowl hopefuls.
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Playing against a secondary that lost both starting cornerbacks Patrick Surtain II and Riley to injury, the 49ers turned a 3-3 halftime tie into a 17-6 lead in the fourth quarter.
The Broncos eventually answered with their first touchdown and a two-point conversion to cut their deficit to 17-14 with 4:05 remaining, raising the spectre in San Francisco of yet another Denver rally. But Purdy and the 49ers struck again to quickly dash those hopes.
Denver blitzed on second-and-5 near midfield on San Francisco’s ensuing possession, and Purdy found his favorite target, George Kittle, on a screen pass. Kittle did the work from there, running untouched through Denver’s secondary for a 56-yard scored to ice the win and maintain San Francisco’s undefeated season.
The win keeps San Francisco in control of a stacked NFC West, ahead of the 3-1 Seattle Seahawks and 2-2 Los Angeles Rams.
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For the Broncos, the game script was familiar until the end. Nix and the Broncos have depended on second-half comebacks with 14 of them to win games since the start of last season. They fell behind again on Sunday, and couldn’t mount a rally against a strong opponent.
Denver’s formula of rallying late for wins is a difficult one for consistent success. It didn’t work on Sunday. They’re now two games behind the 4-0 Chiefs in the AFC West and a game behind the 3-1 Las Vegas Raiders.
Against a stout Denver defense, Purdy wasn’t as prolific as he had been in leading San Francisco to a league-high 13 offensive touchdowns through three weeks. But he was good enoughon an efficient day while completing 19 of 30 passes for 218 yards (7.3 yards per attempt) with 2 touchdowns and no turnovers. He didn’t take a sack and has now gone four game to start the season without taking one.
In the end, the 49ers racked up 358 yards of offense on 5.5 yards per play without turning the ball over. And they continue to look like the team to beat in the NFC.
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Nix, meanwhile, completed 25 of 42 passes for 214 yards (5.1 yards per attempt) with 1 touchdown and no turnovers as Denver’s run game mustered just 3.7 yards per carry en route to 82 yards on the ground.
