Despite the myriad of injuries the San Francisco 49ers have been forced to suffer through, both before this 2025 season began and since the campaign got underway, Kyle Shanahan and Co. will head into their Week 4 matchup with the Jacksonville Jaguars as one of the six remaining undefeated teams in the league at 3-0.
Having a top-notch defense has certainly helped, as the Niners have allowed the second-fewest points per game thus far (16.3) and the fourth-fewest yards per contest (265.7). Of course, it needs to be noted that coordinator Robert Saleh's unit just took a big hit, as the latest bite from the injury bug has cost Nick Bosa his season.
On the offensive side of the ball, San Francisco ranks seventh in total yards per game (361.0). However, it hasn't been a very balanced attack. While the 49ers lead the NFL in passing yards (271.3), they're tied for 26th in rushing (89.7). And that's with a healthy Christian McCaffrey.
Now, to be fair, with Brandon Aiyuk starting the season on the PUP list as he continues to recover from a torn ACL, George Kittle on injured reserve after going down in Week 1 with a hamstring injury, Jauan Jennings missing time with an ankle injury, and Demarcus Robinson being suspended for the first three games of the season, McCaffrey has effectively been forced into being utilized much more as a receiver.
In fact, CMC actually leads the team in both targets (32) and receptions (25) and ranks second in receiving yards (213), trailing only Ricky Pearsall (281), who's looking more and more like a superstar with each passing week. Sure, it's great that McCaffrey is so versatile, but it's hard not to worry about him being overused, given his injury history.
That said, however, this strategy of a pass-heavy attack might simply be necessary at this point, as there's no getting around the fact that the 49ers offensive line as a whole just hasn't been that great in the run-blocking department thus far.
Guards Dominick Puni and Connor Colby have specifically struggled, earning 50.8 and 59.4 PFF run-blocking grades, respectively. Regular starting left Ben Bartch was playing well in this regard, but left the Niners' Week 2 win over the New Orleans Saints with a high-ankle sprain and now sits on injured reserve.
While McCaffrey ranks 17th in the league in rushing with 176 yards, he's averaging a career-low 3.4 yards per carry, which is well below his career average of 4.7. Brian Robinson Jr. has fared better at 4.4 yards per carry, but he's not being used as much as some thought he might be, getting only 17 attempts through three games.
Despite all of this, however, the Niners are getting away with it. Think about this, though. The last two weeks, San Francisco has won while only getting 77 rushing yards against the Saints and 73 against the Arizona Cardinals. Those two victories actually matched the 49ers' total number of wins with fewer than 80 yards rushing in the first 145 regular-season and playoff games with Shanahan as head coach. So, one has to wonder how sustainable this is.
Once Kittle and Aiyuk come back and Jennings gets closer to 100 percent, the Niners should be able to open up the field a bit and start getting back to more of their usual approach of wearing teams down and taking up clock with the run. But for now, they seem to be content with what's been working, even if that means wearing McCaffrey out as a receiver.