49ers RB Christian McCaffrey to miss Week 18 game vs. Rams with calf strain, expected back for playoffs
McCaffrey left Sunday’s 27-10 win over the Commanders early with a calf strain
Christian McCaffrey will be out until the playoffs.
The San Francisco 49ers running back will miss their Week 18 game against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday due to a mild calf strain, head coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed Monday.
Instead, McCaffrey will get about three weeks to recover before the 49ers’ first playoff game. The team clinched the No. 1 seed in the NFC on Sunday with their win over the Washington Commanders coupled with the Philadelphia Eagles' loss to the Arizona Cardinals, and will now get a first round bye and home field advantage throughout the NFC postseason.
The injury, Shanahan said, “could be a lot worse.”
#49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said the news was good on RB Christian McCaffrey's calf strain. He said it "could be a lot worse." All parties confident McCaffrey will be good to go for postseason.
— Nick Wagoner (@nwagoner) January 1, 2024
McCaffrey left in the third quarter of Sunday’s 27-10 win over the Commanders and did not return. He had 64 yards on 16 carries when he left, and had four receptions for 27 yards. He didn’t score a touchdown in the win, which marked just the third game this season where he did not score. McCaffrey has run for a career-high 1,459 yards and has 21 total touchdowns this season, his seventh in the league.
The 49ers had little issue getting past Washington without him. Elijah Mitchell ran for a 2-yard score late in the third quarter to push San Francisco to a 10-point lead, and Brandon Aiyuk caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Brock Purdy midway through the fourth quarter to seal the 17-point win.
That win pushed the 49ers to 12-4 on the season.
While the timing of the injury isn’t great, there’s no real reason for McCaffrey to play Sunday. The 49ers have already clinched everything they possibly can, so resting him makes sense. Assuming all goes well over the next three weeks, McCaffrey should be out on the field for the 49ers in their first playoff game.