SANTA CLARA, Calif. — In four of the last six years, the San Francisco 49ers have played on conference championship weekend.

With a collection of All-Pros, ranging from defensive end Nick Bosa to tight end George Kittle and running back Christian McCaffrey, the Niners have established themselves as one of the most consistent and productive teams in the NFC.

And on a warm Thursday morning in the Bay Area with music blaring, the Broncos — with championship aspirations of their own — more than held their own against San Francisco.

"I thought we played pretty well," right tackle Mike McGlinchey said. "There's obviously things that we need to clean up, but I thought we got on them right from the jump. I thought we played really physical football. I thought Bo [Nix] handled himself great getting in and out of the huddle. I thought the operation was great given that those speakers served as almost an away game atmosphere."

Head Coach Sean Payton said the Broncos will have a lot to clean up after working against different alignments and cadences, but he credited Denver's effort.

"Overall, I was pleased with the work we got," Payton said. "Both sides, I thought, handled themselves well. It was competitive, and yet we got a ton of situational work: two-minute, red zone, third down. A lot of team work. A lot of players getting a lot of work."

On the field where Payton's offense operated against the San Francisco defense, Nix seemed to post one of his sharpest days of training camp.

Nix opened 11-on-11 action with a pair of early completions to Troy Franklin — including a diving catch by the second-year player — and also found Marvin Mims Jr. for a deep completion. The two receivers each recorded multiple catches in 11-on-11 action.

The Denver quarterback, though, made his biggest plays on Thursday when targeting Courtland Sutton. The duo linked up at least five times during the practice, including a third-down conversion and multiple gains of at least 20 yards.

The play of the day came courtesy of the Nix-to-Sutton connection during red-zone work, as Nix sprinted to his right, evaded a sack and connected with a leaping No. 14. Sutton was able to get both feet in bounds for a highlight-reel touchdown.

The throw-and-catch seemed to be just one example of Nix's ability to extend a play and make something happen.

"You can't force that," Payton said of the off-schedule throws. "Look, we can design plays to get him out of the pocket, but I'm talking about when a part of your protection breaks down, maybe the initial route's covered. He tends to function comfortably in that position."

Added McGlinchey: "It's everything. There's quarterbacks that have made a whole career on the second act of plays. Certainly [it] makes an offensive lineman's job a lot easier in terms of being able to save a play, being able to save a sack, being able to do all those things. Bo's a tremendous athlete, something he probably didn't get a lot of credit for when he was coming out. You see it every day, and you saw it all last year."

DENVER'S DEFENSE HOLDS OWN VS. TALENTED OFFENSE

The Broncos' defense has lofty expectations for the season and showed their potential against last year's fourth-ranked offense.

Especially early in practice, Denver's defense seemed to control the line of scrimmage and recorded multiple stops for either a loss or short gain. Outside linebacker Nik Bonitto recorded an impressive tackle for loss against Christian McCaffrey during one team rep, and inside linebacker Justin Strnad appeared to make another stop.

In the secondary, third-year cornerback Riley Moss recorded multiple pass breakups, including one against Ricky Pearsall. Reigning Defensive Player of the Year Pat Surtain II recorded a late end-zone pass breakup in a move-the-ball period, while safety JL Skinner and cornerback Ja'Quan McMillian each recorded interceptions in seven-on-seven action.

The Niners made plays of their own — San Francisco's offense scored touchdowns on a pair of move-the-ball possessions — but safety Talanoa Hufanga said the back-and-forth is helpful in practice.

"I think we did handle it well, but that's what practice is for," Hufanga said of facing the Niners' offense. "We're here to learn. We're not here to come here and be perfect. Everybody strives to be perfect, don't get me wrong, but if we came in here and we beat them every single rep, then there's no growth in that. We want to know what works, what doesn't, push the limits, be in the spots that might not be the right spot, but if the risk is there, you want see what can work and what can't and it's better to have it happen now than [in] Week 17 and the game's on the line and you need to get to the playoffs or something like that. You'd rather [have it happen] now, so [then] we're ready for those moments."

QUICK HITS

… The Broncos' offense also seemed to have several impressive run plays, as J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey each seemed to find room to run.

"I think today was a good start," McGlinchey said of the running game. "I think any time you play something different than what you see every day, like I said, it was a little bit [more real] of a situation where they're not calling the period 'team run' and the defense is pinning their ears back and playing the run and they actually have to think about things that are going on on the field. It gives a little bit of the strength back to the offense in terms of how to balance the practice back out. I think today was a good start. I think it's been a focal point for us all throughout camp. It's something we talk about [in the] offensive line room, tight end room, receiver room, running back room. It takes all 11 guys to run the football well, and it all takes a big part in that and big pride in that. It was a good step forward today."

… Among the other highlight plays was an impressive touchdown pass from Jarrett Stidham to Trent Sherfield Sr., a third-down conversion from Nix to Devaughn Vele, a deep touchdown pass from Sam Ehlinger to Kyrese Rowan and a team-period interception from Devon Key.

… Payton said linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who did not practice Thursday, will likely not play in Saturday's preseason opener. He said Greenlaw "will be back working full speed on Monday."