The San Francisco 49ers are standing at 7-4, with the Carolina Panthers next on the docket on Monday Night Football at Levi’s Stadium in a must-win game for the former.

San Francisco is coming off a big 41-22 win over the Arizona Cardinals that got them back into the playoff picture, but they had some costly injuries in the game, losing linebacker Tatum Bethune and kicker Eddy Piniero for some time with ankle and hamstring injuries, respectively.

Both players had been in key roles for the 49ers, with Bethune stepping up following the injury to Fred Warner, while Piniero took...

49ers signing kicker Matt Gay to fill in for Eddy Piñeiro
“A Pro Bowl selection in 2021, Gay helped the Rams win Super Bowl LVI and made NFL history in 2023 by becoming the first kicker to hit four field goals of 50-plus yards in a single game.”

The Christian McCaffrey you don’t know: A puzzle-solving, wordsmithing chess nerd (paywall) “Juszczyk, for example, said he was surprised when, while hanging out with McCaffrey and some of his boyhood friends during a recent offseason, McCaffrey got up and started playing the piano. He took lessons beginning at age 5 and stuck...

The San Francisco 49ers brought back linebacker Stone Blanton to the practice squad. Blanton signed with the team as an undrafted free agent after the 2025 NFL Draft. He was with the practice squad as recently as October 22, before being released on November 4. Blanton is needed as Tatum Bethune will miss time with a high-ankle sprain.

Per the transaction wire, the Niners also worked out two kickers. The team worked out three on Tuesday. Per The Athletic’s Matt Barrows, neither was signed. On Wednesday, Matt Gay and Cade York got their chances, with Eddy Pineiro nursing a Grade...

While the 49ers will be far from happy with the porous nature of their defense in 2025 — even with a slew of injuries hampering that side of the ball — there will be an internal acceptance that, for Robert Saleh and his group, this season is as much about the development of young players as it is about results.

San Francisco’s reliance on the youth movement on defense increased with the injuries to the likes of Nick Bosa and Fred Warner. This is a unit relying hugely on players selected in one of the previous three drafts, with several...

The San Francisco 49ers are in the driver’s seat after a 41-22 beating of the Arizona Cardinals this past weekend, standing at 7-4 as the No. 7 seed in the playoffs.

Up next is the Carolina Panthers on Monday Night Football, with the Cleveland Browns, a bye week, and the Tennessee Titans to follow. Those are three very winnable games, which would put San Francisco at the coveted 10-win mark with three games to go in the regular season.

The 49ers are getting key pieces back at the right time, as quarterback Brock Purdy and wide receiver Ricky Pearsall returned...

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year, we ask questions of the most plugged-in Niners fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

The San Francisco 49ers will look to string together consecutive wins this Monday against the Carolina Panthers for the first time since Weeks 2 and 3.

Brock Purdy and Ricky Pearsall returned in Week 11, and the offense, at near full strength, finished Week 11 second in success rate and third in EPA per play.

The defense was 16th in EPA...

The San Francisco 49ers are going to have to find a way to grind out wins during the next few games on their schedule to give themselves some wiggle room when they face potential playoff teams in the final three weeks of the season.

In this week’s stock up and stock down report, we take a look at Brock Purdy, the red zone offense, why the special teams units are trending in the right direction, and whether the defense can manufacture enough stops when it matters.

Brock Purdy adding an explosive element to the 49ers’ passing game

Expected Points...

The San Francisco 49ers’ signing Mac Jones to a two-year deal may prove to be one of the more prescient deals they’ve signed to date.

Jones started every game from Weeks 2 through 10, save Week 4, and kept the 49ers team afloat and alive in the playoff race. He went 5-3, which was better than anyone could’ve imagined, and certainly a step up from any other iteration of backups the Niners have played for a long stretch under Kyle Shanahan.

Of course, the 49ers need to be sure Brock Purdy is fully recovered from a turf toe injury that...

When you post on SB Nation, we don’t want you to miss all the conversations and responses that follow.

So starting today, whenever a user replies to your comment or to your post on the Feed, you’ll see a notification at the top right corner of the page.

And of course, this means that when you engage with other community members, they’ll get an alert too.

Our goal is to create more and better conversations on Niners Nation and elsewhere across the SB Nation network. Anytime someone engages with your comments or Feed posts on another SB Nation community, you’ll...

Following the Lions’ loss in Philadelphia and a victory in Arizona, the San Francisco 49ers are sitting in the seventh seed in the NFC. If the season ended today, the 49ers would face the Rams at SoFi Stadium for a third matchup. There is much more football to play, but as long as the 49ers stack wins, they are in a great spot to clinch a playoff berth. With three more winnable games before the bye week, the 49ers could sit at ten wins with three games to play.

How does the NFL media view the 49ers with Brock Purdy...

49ers overreactions: Is Brandon Aiyuk’s return even needed for team to win?
“If Aiyuk returns off the physically-unable-to-perform list and is able to play at a high level, that’s found money. Whether they need him or not is a good discussion point.

“When you have such a big injury like that, you wait until he’s fully comfortable to come up and start practicing,” Shanahan said Monday.

Right now, the 49ers have Jennings, Pearsall, Kendrick Bourne and Demarcus Robinson as their top four wide receivers.

As for the future, Aiyuk is under contract through the 2028 season after signing a four-year,...

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan called kicker Eddy Pineiro a “very fiery guy” on Monday and said he was “Pumped that we’ve been able to get him on the Niners. The 49ers hosted three kickers on Tuesday, with Eddy Pineiro nursing a Grade 1 hamstring injury that could keep him out a week or two.

Per The Athletic’s Matt Barrows, they were:

Tanner Brown
Anders Carlson
John Parker Romo

Brown spent the 2023 preseason with the Los Angeles Rams, who signed him as an undrafted free agent after the 2023 NFL Draft. Brown made all four of his...