Christian McCaffrey already paying off for 49ers vs. Chiefs

The 49ers ensured they got newly acquired Christian McCaffrey involved early in Week 7 against the Chiefs, and his presence made a notable difference.

Christian McCaffrey didn’t get the start at running back for the San Francisco 49ers during their Week 7 home contest against the Kansas City Chiefs.

But it didn’t matter the Niners started fellow running back Jeff Wilson Jr. in the game. Fans were out to see McCaffrey, the All-Pro star player San Francisco acquired via the blockbuster trade with the Carolina Panthers earlier in the week.

And despite being newly immersed into head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense, it didn’t take long for McCaffrey to endear himself to the Faithful.

On his first touch in a 49ers uniform, McCaffrey ripped off a cool 10-yard carry in between the tackles, flashing both burst and elusiveness to pick up a first down. Not long after on the same drive, McCaffrey added 9 more yards on the ground.

Too bad that Niners drive stalled out in the red zone and led only to a field goal, not a touchdown, and it would have been something else if McCaffrey was the one to find paydirt on that opening series.

Christian McCaffrey helps 49ers

San Francisco’s defense responded to the opening field goal by forcing an interception off the hand of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the ball tipped and into the waiting arms of safety Talanoa Hufanga, who just cleared the concussion protocol.

This gave the 49ers great field position, and they didn’t stall out on this particular drive.

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The home crowd was vocal when McCaffrey came off the sideline on a key 2-and-8 play at Kansas City’s 8-yard line, and the running back ran a choice route off to his left, drawing two Chiefs defenders to cover the dynamic threat.

This ultimately left wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud open to the right of the formation, and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo took advantage while under pressure to deliver the 8-yard touchdown throw to put the Niners up 10-0.

Even if McCaffrey wasn’t the targeted player, drawing coverage certainly assisted in getting McCloud open.

Perhaps that’ll be another factor to watch over the rest of the game.