INDIANAPOLIS -- It was a tale of two Moras in the RCA Dome.

On the Colts' sidelines, Jim Mora, the beleaguered 66-year-old coach, was watching his offense throw away their last Hail Mary of a shot at the AFC playoffs. On the 49ers' sidelines, Mora's 40-year-old son, Jim Jr., found his defense getting the gifts he's been praying for all season. Only the Buffalo Bills entered Sunday's action with fewer turnovers than the 49ers' 11.

No wonder Mount St. Mora exploded in the Colts' interview room following the 49ers' relatively easy 40-21 blowout. Mora Sr. lashed out with the third best postgame explosion of his long coaching career, something to at least challenge his "You think you know but don't know" outburst to reporters in New Orleans and his "diddly-poo" comments about his team's performance before resigning as Saints coach.

"Let me start out saying this," Mora Sr. began. "Do not blame that game on defense, OK. I don't care who you play, whether it's a high school team, a junior college team much less an NFL team. When you turn the ball over five times -- four interceptions, one for a touchdown, three others in field position to set up touchdowns -- you ain't going to beat anybody. I just talked about anybody. And that was a disgraceful performance in my opinion. We threw that game. We gave it away by doing that. We gave away that friggin' game. In my opinion, that sucks."

	Jim Mora Sr.'s Colts, left, scored only 21 points against Jim Mora Jr.'s 49er defense.

So how does a team that has forced 11 turnovers in nine games come up with five turnovers in a road game in a dome without much of a pass rush? Believe it or not, the answer is defense along with perception. Statistically, the 49ers rank 17th on defense, but they have created the perception -- thanks to Mora Jr.'s coaching and righteous drafting -- that they are an improving defense. It's the youngest defense in football with an average of 3.5 years of experience among the 11 starters.

This young unit had its growing pains last season. By midseason in 2000, it was surrendering 30.5 points a game. Mora Jr. was struggling tying to school as many as seven rookies who were getting significant playing time. Pro Bowl quarterback Jeff Garcia had to bail out the 49ers by trying to win high-scoring affairs, which usually translates into bad turnovers by the offense.

"It's a fine line," Garcia said of being a quarterback forced to win shootouts week in and week out. "Somehow, you need to have success on the field but still minimize your mistakes. Yet, you have to make big plays at the same time. It's tough to do."

Garcia did well by throwing only three interceptions during the first half of the 2000 season, but the team was still 2-6. In the second half, the defense grew up and cut the opponents' scoring to 20.5 points a game, and the team started to win, finishing 6-10.

Basically, the Colts are last year's 49ers. The difference is that they are getting worse, and only bad things can happen the rest of the way. Impatient fans in San Francisco wanted to run Mora Jr. out of town and he was only 39 at the time. His dad is 66 and in the next-to-last year of his contract. Patience of fixing the defense is running thin.

Unlike Garcia, Manning isn't being patient trying to balance the difference between big plays and mistakes. He threw a career-high four interceptions. For the season, he's thrown 16, including five that have been returned for touchdowns.

Mora Sr. even took a shot at his quarterback after the game in his heated postgame comments.

"We have been making those kind of errors all year, throwing interceptions, turning the ball over," he said. "It's killed us. It has killed us."

Mora Sr. even had time to praise a defense that surrendered 40 points and 7 yards a play by saying, "If our defense hadn't played halfway decent against a great offensive team, they might have scored 60."

"That's a tough question, but obviously our team is not having a very good year," Manning responded politely when asked to review his performance this season. "I did a poor job of protecting the ball."

	“	We have been making those kind of errors all year, throwing interceptions, turning the ball over. It's killed us. It has killed us. ”
		— Jim Mora Sr., Colts head coach

Let's be honest and look what happened to Manning in the first half. He completed 15 of his 21 passes for 215 yards. He was incredible. Manning kept burning the 49ers' young defense by throwing crossing route completions to Marvin Harrison and hitting Terrence Wilkins and Trevor Insley on out patterns. Despite his early success, the Colts still trailed 17-14, a deficit that turned to 20-14 after Manning was intercepted on a sideline throw by cornerback Ahmed Plummer to set up a Jose Cortez field goal before the half.

Mora Sr. wants to neglect the errors of his defense. It's hard to forget how Garcia drove 78 yards in four plays in the second quarter and hit J.J. Stokes with a 5-yard touchdown pass to take a 10-7 lead. Or how about the lack of hustle and tackling on Garrison Hearst's 28-yard touchdown run that put the 49ers ahead 17-14 in the second quarter.

The Colts have the league's second-youngest defense with 3.85 years of experience. They are surrendering 29.8 points a game and injuries are consuming them. Their best defender, linebacker Mike Peterson, is out with a knee injury. Safeties Idrees Bashir and Cory Bird missed Sunday's game so unknown Jason Doering took a shot at free safety. Twice, Doering was penalized in the first quarter for making tackles out of bounds.

In the second half, Hearst slipped through the defense for a 43-yard touchdown. In fact, the 49ers' offense was on the field only a total of five minutes and 15 plays to score 27 points. Manning and the Colts' offense was on the field 38 minutes, 50 seconds and had 84 plays to the 49ers' 48, giving the young 49ers' defense time to figure them out.

Plummer, who picked off two passes, came over to Mora Jr. and suggested a change in the pass coverage midway through the second quarter. "Ahmed said, 'Hey, let's try a two-deep (zone) with man under," Mora Jr. said. He agreed. According to Jr.'s calculations, that coverage was responsible for three Manning interceptions.

"That's what happens you have smart players," Mora Jr. said. "We are getting constant input from the players. Peyton was throwing the heck out of that deep stuff. Normally, they don't throw a lot of outs but they were getting us on those early. He's such a great player, we just have to disguise what we do until he figures it out."

Manning overthrew Insley, and safety Zack Bronson intercepted the pass and returned it 48 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter. Plummer picked off his second. The only thing missing for the 49ers' defense was the sacks, a missing element all season. The 49ers had one sack, raising the season total to 13.

That's something the Niners will work on as they get ready for the playoffs. For the Colts, it's a matter of riding Manning to get through the final six games and then go for a franchise re-evaluation at the end of the season. As Mora Sr. said about the turnovers, "In my opinion, that sucks."

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.