Niners Nation
There isn’t an opponent to preview this weekend for the San Francisco 49ers, so we’ll look back at the previous 13 games played and award an MVP, a player not getting enough love for their performance, the most improved player, and much more.
Managing nine wins against a schedule that has seen seven teams fighting for playoff spots without your very best players is nothing to sneeze at. The only thing predictable about this year is that it’s been a rollercoaster of a season. You knew there would be injuries, just not to whom. You knew there would be head-scratching losses and triumphant wins; it was just a matter of when.
Let’s get into the award ceremony and start with the obvious.
Christian McCaffrey is fourth in the NFL…in receptions. He’s 11th in receiving yards and has five receiving touchdowns. All of this comes with an average depth of target of 2.4 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. He’s ninth in the NFL in first downs and has forced more missed tackles as a receiver than any other player in the league.
McCaffrey does not play wide receiver. Full-time, anyway. McCaffrey has rushed for 849 yards. Of those, 69 percent have come after contact. If there is a hole, he will maximize every yardage from that. If there isn’t, McCaffrey will find a way to get three or four yards. He’s seventh among running backs with 38 forced missed tackles, and third in the NFL with three first downs.
The 49ers have asked McCaffrey to do everything. He hasn’t just held up, but he’s excelled and made up for not having Brock Purdy and George Kittle for multiple games.
This is the resume of an Offensive Player of the Year candidate.
It’s one thing to lose Nick Bosa. It’s another to lose Fred Warner. Arguably the two best players at their position in the NFL have been out for nearly two months now — Bosa, obviously, has been out longer. Oh, and aside from that, the 49ers’ defensive coordinator has been tasked with getting a group of rookies up to speed and ready to play on the fly.
It’s been a season of adjustments for Robert Saleh. In Week 13, the player who played the second-most snaps on the defensive line wasn’t on the roster in October. The linebacker who played every snap but two totaled four snaps in 2023 and 2024.
Saleh has a roster without an identity, but is making chicken salad out of chicken you know what. With all of the moving parts, weekly injuries, and limitations in the secondary, the 49ers have seen their points per drive drop from 2.51 (31st) to 2.06 (13th) and, more importantly, the red zone scoring had dipped from 5.54 points per red zone trip in 2024 (31st) to 4.73 (10th) this season.
The goal is to limit points, and Saleh has worked his magic without a pass rush or a...
