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The San Francisco 49ers were dealt a bad hand in the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles. They had already lost two starting quarterbacks during the regular season. QB3, rookie Brock Purdy, stepped in during Week 13, and the 49ers kept winning football games.
Purdy's impressive run ended on that January 29 afternoon, though. The quarterback suffered a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right elbow, making it impossible to throw the football. Tight end George Kittle, joking with his quarterback, asked if there was any chance he was ambidextrous and could throw left-handed.
That wasn't going to happen.
The 49ers had overcome a lot this season, though. They weren't about to assume things were coming to a crashing end.
"Well, when Brock went down and [QB] Josh [Johnson] went in, we were all still confident," running back Christian McCaffrey told Steve Covino and Rich Davis of FOX Sports' Covino & Rich show on Wednesday in Arizona. "We knew we had a fight. And then when [Johnson] went down—you're never out of the fight. There's always something that could happen. You could get a pick-six, special teams could return one, keep you in the game. You're just trying to string together as many plays as possible to try to win.
"But it's tough, man. Looking back on the game, I think in the heat of battle, you're confident. And then, looking back on the game, you just wish you had a fair shot. Obviously, we got beat and we didn't have a fair shot because of the plays that those guys made, and so props to them. But it's like fighting with one arm. You just feel like you had something ripped from you."
Purdy ended up returning to the game after Johnson exited with a concussion. However, the 49ers couldn't ask Purdy to throw the football, handicapping the offense.
"What were you supposed to do in a moment like that?" McCaffrey's 49ers teammate, wide receiver Deebo Samuel, said on Wednesday. "We didn't want our season to end that way. If anything, we wanted to put up a fight instead of not having a chance."
For a moment before Purdy's return, it looked like McCaffrey was getting prepared for the possibility of entering the game at quarterback, an emergency situation that was nerve-wracking for the running back.
"If you know Kyle's system, it's very difficult to learn," McCaffrey explained. "It's difficult to learn as a running back. And so everyone's like, 'You should have went in at quarterback.' I'm like, 'I don't know if you understand what it takes to play quarterback.' There's a reason it's the highest-paid [position] in the league. It's tough. And so at that point, we were just in desperation mode, trying to see if, 'Hey, maybe we have a flea flicker here.'"
The loss was heartbreaking for McCaffrey and the 49ers. The running back had never made it that deep into the postseason. So to have the opportunity to appear in a Super Bowl ripped away like that was a tough way to go out.
"I think it'll bug us, everyone on the team, until we start getting ramped up again," McCaffrey admits. "And I know that because even the years that I got hurt, man, there wasn't a day that I woke up where I wasn't bitter and pissed off and angry. And you put on a smile, but that's just the real emotions of the sport. And then you got to listen to people talk about it, and it doesn't help."
He admits the chatter can be motivating, though.
"It 100 percent keeps you in the game, and there's a reason for everything, and I fully believe that," McCaffrey continued. "And you got to find ways to find gratitude and to be thankful for the journey. There's been seasons where we won five games, and I was here doing the same thing.
"To be able to even play in an NFC Championship and the whirlwind of a year that we had, you just got to keep working. At the end of the day, it's all about football. It's all about perfecting your craft, training, getting bigger, faster, stronger, perfecting the playbook."
49ers starting to figure out running back rotation behind Christian McCaffrey
By Rohan Chakravarthi
Sep 24
Through the first two games of the season, San Francisco 49ers star running back Christian McCaffrey dominated the team's touches, recording 27 in Week 1, when he rushed for 152 yards and a touchdown, and 23 in Week 2, when he gained 116 yards on the ground and another touchdown.
When on the field, McCaffrey was dominant, but he was earning a lion's share of the reps at running back, including a 100% snap share in Week 2 during the 49ers' 30-23 win over the Los Angeles Rams.
That led to head coach Kyle Shanahan taking some accountability after the Week 2 win, understanding the need to balance the running back rotation to preserve McCaffrey for the full season.
"Yeah, we definitely got to get Elijah in there more and do better with our rotation than
49ers mailbag: Is Christian McCaffrey being overused? Should Spencer Burford be benched? Is Steve Wilkes who the defense needs? When is Nick Bosa going to show up?
By Marc Adams
Sep 19
The San Francisco 49ers are 2-0 to start off the 2023 season. In 2021, the 49ers won their first two games but then lost their next four. A win Thursday night, in the home opener against the New York Giants, would be the 49ers' first 3-0 start since 2019. That season, the team started out 8-0 before going on to win the NFC West and cruise through the NFC playoffs on their way to a birth in Super Bowl LIV.
I can't seem to remember how that game turned out, though. It's like it's been blocked from my memory.
It doesn't matter, because we've moved on to the current season. And to celebrate the 2-0 start, we've opened up the mailbag to answer those questions burning a hole in your mind. So let's get to it.
Marc, what did ya think of CMC channelling
49ers' Christian McCaffrey on heavy workload: "Sometimes that's just how the games go"
By David Bonilla
Sep 19
Christian McCaffrey doesn't sound too worried about his heavy workload this season. The running back played all 57 offensive snaps on Sunday in the San Francisco 49ers' 30-23 win over the Los Angeles Rams. Through two games this season, McCaffrey has played 115 snaps.
The only other running back (not counting fullback Kyle Juszczyk) who has been on the field for the Niners this season is Elijah Mitchell, who played 10 snaps in Week 1.
On Tuesday, McCaffrey spoke about his lopsided workload, with one reporter asking what he considers the "sweet spot" for playing time.
"I think it's all dependent on how the game's going," McCaffrey said (h/t
Christian McCaffrey can extend touchdown streak during 49ers vs. Cardinals
By Site Staff
Sep 27
Running back Christian McCaffrey leads the NFL with 353 rushing yards entering Week 4. Since Week 13 of the 2022 season, McCaffrey has scored a touchdown in 12 straight games, including the postseason. With a touchdown by McCaffrey against Arizona on Sunday (1:25 PM PT, FOX), it will be the fourth time since 1990 that a player has recorded a touchdown in 13 consecutive games, including the postseason.
The players with the most consecutive games with a touchdown, including the postseason, since 1990:
Player
Team
Games (Dates)
Emmitt Smith
Dallas
14 (Oct. 8, 1995 – Jan. 28,
