The Once and Future McCaffrey

If The Mac triumphantly returns and the 49ers can still barely beat a middleweight, does it make a ripple in the NFC playoff chase? Also: Eagles clobber Cowboys, Jets surrender, and much more.

Christian McCaffrey has returned, which means the 2024 NFL season can now truly begin.

McCaffrey had a relatively quiet game statistically in the narrow 23-20 San Francisco 49ers victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 13 carries for 39 yards, six catches for 68 yards. But he did deliver one clutch play: a 30-yard catch up the sideline to finally shift the Niners offense into second gear when they were trailing in the fourth quarter. He was also useful as a decoy, racing into the flat and drawing the defense away from Deebo Samuel and others. 

It was delightful to see McCaffrey back, both because he’s one of the NFL’s best playmakers and because it grew exhausting to keep hearing about the cataclysmic impact of his absence. It was as if the whole world were one of those annoying coworkers who won’t shut up about their fantasy team.

McCaffrey has been the 2024 NFL season’s missing protagonist. His unavailability due to bilateral tendonitis was both a legitimate reason and a too-convenient excuse for the 49ers’ sluggish first half. 

The Ravens could be criticized for their porous pass defense, the Chiefs for their over-reliance on Patrick Mahomes magic, the Bills for their lack of a WR1 and the Eagles for a dozen different things. The Lions lost one of the NFL’s best defenders in Aidan Hutchinson and brushed it off for weeks as a mere flesh wound. But the 49ers? They blew double-digit leads and tripped over their own shoelaces against divisional welterweights, yet fans and experts alike just shrugged. Wait till they get McCaffrey back, cried the masses, though some looked forward to it and others dreaded it.

McCaffrey’s return certainly helped a little on Sunday. Whether the All Pro running back can save his team from itself is another matter. The 49ers endured another droopy afternoon against a beatable NFC also-ran on Sunday: in this case, an opponent in a three-game tailspin, missing its Hall of Fame WR1 (Mike Evans), his perennial 1,000-yard rhythm guitarist (Chris Godwin) and, by the second quarter, its Pro Bowl left tackle (Tristan Wirfs suffered an MCL sprain).

What should have been a McCaffrey coronation jubilee became a nailbiter. The 49ers did all the dumb stuff that cost them games this year. They settled for six field goal attempts. They missed three of them. They were unable to stop a team with zero wide receivers from running the ball. The 49ers defense allowed the Buccaneers to tie the game on an epic penalty spree which screamed we have officially run out of all of our composure for the year.