49ers’ Kyle Shanahan defends decision to leave Christian McCaffrey in the game late vs. Rams

Emmanuel Moseley went down late in the fourth quarter of the San Francisco 49ers' Week 5 win over the Carolina Panthers. The game felt over at that point, so some criticized the decision to have the starting cornerback, along with several other starters, remain in the contest.

Similar criticisms surfaced after Sunday's big win against the Los Angeles Rams. Head coach Kyle Shanahan opted to keep his new star running back, Christian McCaffrey, on the field late in the game with the victory seemingly already in hand. The coach was asked about the comments during a Tuesday-morning KNBR interview on the Murph & Mac show, and he didn't sound too thrilled about the criticisms.

Shanahan said, "Yeah, I don't know what you guys..." before pausing to choose his words.

"Look at our Detroit game from Week 1 last year," Shanahan continued. "It was 41-17 with 1:58 left. And on the last play of the game, it was 41-33, and Detroit had the ball on the 20-yard line, going for a touchdown to send it into overtime.

"So to start sitting there, worrying about all of our guys and what's going on when it's a 17-point game with six minutes to go is not a good omen. That's not what you do to the football gods. You don't start worrying about the wrong stuff when there's plenty of time left in the game."

Of course, the Lions were still fighting in that Week 1 matchup last season. On Sunday, the Rams had seemingly given up toward the end, knowing a victory was out of reach.

"I was kind of surprised when they gave up a little early, I think when there was six or seven minutes left, and they ran the ball on third down," defensive end Nick Bosa told reporters after the game. "I was hoping for some more pass rushes there, but I guess they didn't have confidence in coming back."

You can listen to the entire conversation with Shanahan below.