The San Francisco 49ers are hosting the Chicago Bears on Sunday, and the starting running back for the 49ers will be the player who was their fourth-string running back going into training camp—rookie Isaac Guerendo. This will be the rookie's first NFL start, but he has shown flashes of being a threat on the ground. Through 12 games this season, Guerendo has 246 yards rushing on only 42 attempts. That's good for 5.9 yards per attempt. He also has two touchdowns but might have had more if he hadn't slid to stop the clock a couple of times.
And now, with Christian McCaffrey and Jordan Mason being placed on IR (injured reserve), the pressure lies on Guerendo to lead the ground game.
Guerendo has the speed to be a game-breaker. And he's big enough to break tackles. The thing he struggled with early on was hitting the right holes and making the correct decisions. As he's played, he's learned and improved. But is he ready to be the leadback for the 49ers?
NBC Sports Bay Area's Greg Papa sat down with 49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan on Friday for the latest episode of "49ers Game Plan." They discussed the injuries to McCaffrey and Mason, as well as what Shanahan expects from Guerendo.
"I expect him to fill in and play like a starting running back," Shanahan said. "That's how we look at everything on our team. You'd like to build guys that are a little bit different and have the perfect package to mix them all together, but I always want guys who are capable of being a starting back. When you're a backup for us, if you're not a guy that we think can be a starting back, we usually don't like you as a backup because it's very rare that not all these guys play.
"I mean, we're down to our fourth starting back now this year, you know, with losing Elijah Mitchell a week before the season started. And that's really happened to us every single year, except for the year and a half with Christian. So you always, you know, we're sitting there in a round, we're like, 'Man, the best guy here is a running back. Should we take another one?' And like, he's the best guy there. You never know. And we always end up needing them. So it's, I'm glad he's here. He's got the talent to really help us. I think he's gotten better throughout this year and getting this opportunity, I think he's ready for, and it'll also help him for his future and help us going into next year."
Guerendo scored his second touchdown of his rookie season last Sunday night in Buffalo. The 49ers hope to see more of that and would like to see Guerendo cause problems for defenses in the passing game, as well. In 12 games, he only has five catches for 19 yards, but there have been numerous opportunities to get Guerendo the ball in the passing game. But for one reason or another, the opportunity has not been taken. If the 49ers can find ways to get Guerendo the ball in space, he can give the offense a boost.
Watch Papa's full interview with Shanahan below:
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