What to Expect from Colin Kaepernick, San Francisco 49ers Offense in Week 7

	Overall rating	Catch %	QB Rating Against
Chris Harris	8.2	37.0	31.9
Aqib Talib	0.9	59.5	89.6
Bradley Roby	0.2	70.4	94.8

Colin Kaepernick was the best player on the field during the San Francisco 49ers' Monday night victory against the St. Louis Rams. 

Now comes the hard part: building off that performance against a superior defense. 

We can be reasonably sure Kaepernick will have to do just that for the 49ers (4-2) to beat the Denver Broncos (4-1) at Mile High on Sunday. 

The Broncos are fourth in the NFL in total defense and run defense. They allow just 3.3 yards per carry. 

Most teams resort to throwing on the Broncos to keep pace with their explosive offense. But the Broncos also have that covered, ranking fourth in yards per pass attempt allowed and seventh in sacks. 

Kap's Week 7 counterpart, Peyton Manning, has led the Denver offense to at least 20 points in every regular-season game since November 2012. 

So, the Niners more than likely need a bare minimum of 21 points to win. With that in mind, expect an aggressive game plan from Greg Roman and Jim Harbaugh. 

Spread the Field

Of course, the 49ers will want to stay relatively balanced. When I say aggressive, I don't mean a 70-30 pass-to-run ratio with 20 deep balls thrown in.

The last thing the 49ers want is to be one-dimensional. That would allow Von Miller (six sacks) and DeMarcus Ware (four sacks) to get into a pass-rushing groove.

However, a 60-40 pass-to-run ratio wouldn't be surprising. More specifically, a higher percentage of three wide receiver sets would be beneficial. 

These formations would force rookie nickelback Bradley Roby to match up against either Michael Crabtree, Anquan Boldin or Stevie Johnson.

Though Roby hasn't been bad this season, he's clearly a safer option to attack than Chris Harris or Aqib Talib. 

Michael Thomas/Getty Images

The 49ers don't have an advantage in the trenches. Therefore, they should use their depth of talent at receiver to soften Denver's defense before going to the running game.

Set up Gore with the Pass 

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Considering how often Frank Gore faces eight defenders in the box, it's impressive that he's averaging 4.3 yards per carry in 2014.

Against an aggressive St. Louis run defense, Gore was held to 38 yards on 16 attempts. San Francisco running backs had just 52 yards on 27 carries overall. 

That won't cut it against the Broncos. 

To get more consistent production out of the run game, the 49ers will have to let Kap's passing set up Gore. 

If the 49ers have some success airing it out early, they may face seven or fewer in the box, and that's when Gore is most effective.

Against the Rams, Gore had one yard on seven attempts when facing eight or more in the box. When facing seven or fewer, he had 37 yards on nine attempts.

It's undoubtedly riskier to lean on Kap to set up Gore, but the reward could be a higher yards-per-carry average and ultimately more points.  

Unleash Kap in the Red Zone

The 49ers cannot afford to come away with field goals in the red zone. This is the game to get creative with Kap to take advantage of their scoring opportunities.

I'm talking fewer runs with Carlos Hyde right up the middle against a stacked box and more designed quarterback runs and rollouts that may risk Kap taking a hit but which are also much more effective. 

Two examples come to mind from the Rams game. The first was a naked bootleg that gained 10 yards in the fourth quarter. The second, two plays later, was a play-action rollout in which Kap avoided an oncoming rusher and found both Vernon Davis and Vance McDonald wide open in the end zone (the drop notwithstanding).

During the latter play, the threat of Kap running broke down the defense. The Niners need more of that to improve their red-zone offense, which currently ranks 26th in touchdown percentage.  

All on Kap's Shoulders

The 49ers defense is banged up and facing the greatest regular-season quarterback of all time. The offense is coming off a pedestrian rushing performance, and it's going up against a much better run defense this week. 

Therefore, the 49ers may need Kap to carry them.

And as Andy Benoit of MMQB.com noted in his Wednesday column, with Kap there is "a terrifying unpredictability." 

On one hand, he's coming off 343 passing yards and three touchdowns against a St. Louis defense that neutralized San Francisco's running game. 

On the other hand, he's yet to lead the 49ers offense on more than three TD drives in one game this season, and in the closest thing to a shootout for SF, he had four turnovers against the Bears. 

I suspect he'll be neither spectacular nor dreadful. My guess is he'll lead the 49ers to a point total in the low- to mid-20s.

He seems more comfortable with new receivers Stevie Johnson and Brandon Lloyd, who were a big part of his success against St. Louis. However, Denver's pass rush will give Jonathan Martin or Anthony Davis trouble, which will put Kap under much more pressure than he faced on Monday. 

How he handles that pressure will play a big role in San Francisco's chances to upset the Broncos. 

Joseph Akeley is a San Francisco 49ers featured columnist. Follow @Jakeley_BR on Twitter.