2) Encore performance by Old man Rivers
Philip Rivers played shockingly well in his return to the NFL … for a 44-year-old who retired after the 2020 season and hadn’t thrown a touchdown pass in exactly 1,800 days. That caveat is important when looking ahead to his second start, where his limitations were still clear in Week 15 despite the impressive feat of hanging under center. His deep ball simply wasn’t there, limiting players like Alec Pierce, who leads the team with 785 yards and 20.1 yards per reception but had just one catch for 16 yards in the loss to Seattle. Rivers was 2 of 8 for 33 yards, a last-second interception and a 4.7 passer rating on throws of 10-plus yards, according to Next Gen Stats. He could certainly improve in that regard with a game under his belt, but it’s unlikely the Colts can expose San Francisco through the air outside of a dunk. That said, Rivers was excellent with quick decision-making, going 16-of-18 for 87 carries and a touchdown on throws under 10 yards. He will likely pepper Jonathan Taylor, Michael Pittman and Josh Downs with easy targets and they all have the ability to break one. He will also benefit from a much easier matchup than whoever welcomed him back in the first place. With so many injuries on defense, the 49ers are pretty easily exposed. They have the fewest sacks (16) in the league, are tied for the second-most INTs (five) and are third in yards allowed per game since Week 5 (252.6), according to NFL Research.
3) Demonstration on the backs of workhorses
Christian McCaffrey of the 49ers and Jonathan Taylor of the Colts have both put their teams on the back foot for most of the season. McCaffrey entered Week 16 leading the league with 345 touches, which he has turned into 1,742 scrimmage yards (third in NFL) and 14 scrimmage TDs (tied for third), while Taylor is right behind him with 310 touches for 1,761 yards (second in scoring) (first 18). Monday night will be just the third game in the last 20 seasons in which two opposing players each boast 1,700-plus scrimmage yards. Despite their productive seasons thus far, the running backs have slumped in recent weeks – at least by their standards. McCaffrey has accumulated fewer than 90 scrimmage yards in each of his last two games after falling short of that mark just once through his first 12 contests. The league’s RB leader in both receptions (86) and receiving yards (820), he comes off a game where he was limited to one catch for 14 yards. Taylor has also fallen off his early-season pace during the Colts’ four-game losing streak. After forcing his way into the QB-saturated MVP race with 113.9 rushing yards per game and 15 TDs on the ground through Week 11, he has dipped to 76.0 rushing yards per game with one rushing score since. Still, it wouldn’t be a surprise if either running back gets back on track Monday as the offensive link.