Getty Christian McCaffrey, 49ers running back, had his touchdown streak broken on Sunday.
Christian McCaffrey was angry. The 49ers star was livid. He was foaming at the mouth. His record string of games with a touchdown—tied for the longest in NFL history at 17—had just been broken, despite four chances late in a game featuring a 34-3 San Francisco advantage.
All four chances came up short. And thus, McCaffrey’s record was dust. He stepped to the podium after the game for his meeting with the media and made a stark announcement.
“Yeah, I suck,” McCaffrey said. “Everyone else on the team scored. Except for me.”
#49ers Christian McCaffrey had jokes after failing to continue his TD streak 😂
McCaffrey was kidding, of course, a good sign for a team that had just nabbed a win it badly needed. After three straight losses heading into the Week 9 bye, the 49ers came out in Week 10 and drubbed the Jaguars in Jacksonville, 34-3, shutting down a team that had been among the hottest in the league, with four straight wins.
Still, it was not a bad day by any stretch for McCaffrey, who rushed for 95 yards on 16 carries, adding 47 yards on six catches, too. Offensively for the 49ers, tight end George Kittle (116 yards), receiver Brandon Aiyuk and fullback Kyle Juszczyk scored the touchdowns, and Deebo Samuel added one in the run game.
49ers’ Christian McCaffrey Happy for Win
Despite the fact that they came up short in their attempt to keep Christian McCaffrey’s record going, the running back did appreciate the fact that the team, and coach Kyle Shanahan, made the effort. The 49ers got the ball on a first down from the 10 with 5:18 to play in the game after McCaffrey converted a fourth down with a 19-yard run on the previous play.
On first down, the 49ers gave McCaffrey the ball on the left side for a run, but he tallied only one yard. On second down, backup quarterback Sam Darnold hit McCaffrey for a short pass, which went six yards down to the 3-yard line. That was followed by a loss of two yards on a McCaffrey give and an incomplete pass to McCaffrey on fourth down.
The Niners tried giving Christian McCaffrey the ball to extend his 17-game touchdown streak and he couldn’t get in 😭
“It means a lot to me for them to keep me in at the end of the game there and try to get me that record,” McCaffrey said. “But I’ll take a huge win.”
It was a huge win, one that appears to have gotten the 49ers back on track. McCaffrey said the 49ers were eager to put their losing streak behind them.
“Just as bad as every other week but definitely this one coming off of three losses. I think what I liked is that it wasn’t perfect but we just stayed with it,” McCaffrey said. “We kept going, kept going and the defense came up huge with a bunch of turnovers. Offensively, we got a lot of things we can still get better at, which is exciting. So, I think we learned our lesson these last few weeks of, we have to play good ball every week, we have to execute, we have to minimize mistakes.”
Trent Williams Returns to 49ers O-Line
There was, too, the return of 49ers tackle Trent Williams to the lineup after he missed the last two games following a Week 6 ankle injury he suffered in Cleveland. Williams suffered that injury early in the Browns game and played hurt, so it could be argued that the 49ers are now 6-0 with a healthy Williams and 0-3 without him.
He played a big part in opening holes for Christian McCaffrey.
“I thought the O-line did a great job all day,” McCaffrey said. “That’s a good defense, that’s a good rush defense and they have the numbers to show it. I thought our guys did a great job, it was good having 71 back out there, but I thought all our guys, Jusz (Kyle Juszczyk), the tight ends, they did a hell of a job all day just sticking with it, sticking with the run game, getting some of those gritty yards and in the second half, start to pop some of them.”