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The San Francisco 49ers are ready to make a Super Bowl run. They showed that on Sunday by routing the Pittsburgh Steelers on their home turf—playing at a championship level on both sides of the football. If there is a weakness to this team, it didn't show in Week 1.
The team never likes to look too far ahead, always focusing on the next opponent. But the locker room knows there is an opportunity to win it all, and championship windows can close very quickly in the NFL. A late arrival last season, Christian McCaffrey was a big reason the 49ers reached their third NFC Championship Game in four seasons.
"Yeah, I would say the sense of urgency is at an all-time high," McCaffrey said in an interview with his college coach, David Shaw, for NBC Sports Bay Area. "You can feel it in everything. Not just practices, but in the weight room. You can feel it in the meeting room. ... Yes, we're starting from scratch, and each season is a new season, and you replace different players, and you have to add guys here and there, but the culture feels set."
That culture was quickly apparent to McCaffrey after the Carolina Panthers traded him to the 49ers last year. It's one of the things that made the transition to a new team easier. The running back was immediately impressed with the work ethic of his new teammates and the camaraderie inside the locker room. Winning and pursuing perfection were part of the 49ers' DNA.
On the field, that meant striving to play mistake-free football.
"The most important thing in football is execution, but it's very difficult to execute if the culture is not there," McCaffrey said. "And so, when that is there, now, you can focus on making plays, you can focus on doing your job at a high level. And when that's there, you start to get better, and you start to make these big strides.
"And we treat each year like a new year, but that'll definitely stick there. You want to remember that and know that this is what we did last year. We have a chance, if we play well, and then all you need is a chance."
Next up for McCaffrey and his 49ers are the Los Angeles Rams. The NFC West rivals will face each other on Sunday at SoFi Stadium.
49ers' Christian McCaffrey named FedEx Ground NFL Player of the Week for 4th time this season
By David Bonilla
Nov 29
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey has won his fourth FedEx Ground Player of the Week award this season. The latest honor comes after the 49ers' Thanksgiving victory over the Seattle Seahawks in Week 12. He previously won the award following Weeks 1, 2, and
Christian McCaffrey achieves milestone last seen with the 49ers by Frank Gore
By David Bonilla
Dec 3
Christian McCaffrey rushed for 1,139 yards last season, marking his third time surpassing 1,000 yards in his NFL career. Of course, he accomplished this feat during his time with the Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers.
Entering Week 13, McCaffrey led the league with 939 rushing yards, requiring only 61 more to secure his fourth career season surpassing the 1,000-yard mark. He achieved this milestone in the third quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles, becoming the first 49ers running back to reach 1,000 rushing yards since Frank Gore did so in 2014 with 1,106 rushing yards.
McCaffrey was on pace for 1,451 rushing yards leading up to the game, a potential single-season career-high. Additionally, he was on track to rack up 2,052 all-purpose yards, which
49ers RB Christian McCaffrey earns 4th FedEx Ground NFL Player of the Week nomination this season
By David Bonilla
Nov 27
For the fourth time this season, San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey has been nominated for the FedEx Ground Player of the Week. He previously won following Weeks 1, 2, and 4. The latest nomination comes after the 49ers' Week 12 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Thanksgiving.
McCaffrey ran for 114 yards on 19 carries (6.0 average) and two touchdowns and caught five passes for 25 yards in the
49ers' Christian McCaffrey: Surpassing 1,000 rushing yards a 'team effort'
By David Bonilla
Dec 3
Christian McCaffrey achieved a milestone no other San Francisco 49ers player has reached since Frank Gore in 2014. The running back surpassed the 1,000-yard rushing mark.
Surprisingly, this marks only McCaffrey's fourth time hitting that milestone in his career, last achieving it last season during his time with the Carolina Panthers and now with the 49ers. He also surpassed the mark in 2018 and 2019.
Speaking to Bay Area radio station KNBR after the 49ers' dominant 42-19 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, McCaffrey shared what it means to surpass the 1,000-yard mark again, crediting it as
