For 30 minutes, Sunday’s matchup between the Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers was a defensive slugfest.
Brock Purdy and the 49ers offense ultimately broke down. Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos fell short of another comeback as the 49ers improved to 4-0 with a 24-14 victory in a matchup of Super Bowl contenders.
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Playing against a secondary that lost both starting cornerbacks Patrick Surtain II and Riley to injuries, 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 left and raise the specter of another Denver rally in San Francisco. But Purdy and the 49ers struck back to quickly dash those hopes.
Denver punted on second-and-5 near midfield on San Francisco’s ensuing possession, and Purdy found favorite target George Kittle on a screen pass. Kittle took it from there, running untouched through Denver’s secondary for 56 yards to ice the victory and preserve San Francisco’s undefeated season.
The win puts San Francisco in control of the stacked NFC West ahead of the 2-1 Seattle Seahawks and 2-2 Los Angeles Rams.
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The game script for the Broncos was familiar until the end. The Nix and Broncos have depended on second-half comebacks to win 14 games since the start of last season. They fell behind again on Sunday and could not rally against a strong opponent.
Denver’s formula of rallying late for wins is difficult for consistent success. It didn’t work on Sunday.