Christian McCaffrey’s return benefitted 49ers in less obvious way — but their issues are far from fixed

The San Francisco 49ers got a big piece of their offense back on Sunday with superstar running back Christian McCaffrey returning to the lineup, and they needed his influence on the field to take down a feisty Buccaneers team 23-20.

McCaffrey missed the first eight games of the season with calf and Achilles injuries.

“I feel pretty good,” McCaffrey said. “I thought I was going to be a lot more sore.”

Despite three missed field goals (which led to a testy sideline altercation) making the victory tighter than it should have been, the 49ers (5-4) still weren’t back to the same old 49ers that the league has grown used to. Their playoff hopes received a jolt by getting back to over .500, but even in a win, they showed that just getting back McCaffrey might not alleviate their woes as they try to chase that ever-elusive Super Bowl title.

Despite going against one of the weaker rushing defenses in the league, the 49ers were largely bottled up on the ground. According to TruMedia, this was the 49ers’ worst game of the season in terms of yards per rush, success rate, expected points gained on rushes and first-down-per-rush attempt. They were manhandled up front, with no answers for Vita Vea and the rest of the Buccaneers’ front seven. Due to that, McCaffrey finished the game with 39 yards on 13 carries, an uncharacteristically low output for him. The offensive line performance Sunday was a concern, particularly among the interior (although every team doesn’t have a Vita Vea at nose tackle).

Where McCaffrey helped was in the passing game. He had six catches for 68 yards, including a big-time 30-yard catch where he and Brock Purdy helped keep a play alive. McCaffrey was second on the team behind tight end George Kittle in expected points generated on targets and was much more effective in this manner. San Francisco had much more success through the air, with Purdy throwing for 353 yards on 36 attempts. McCaffrey played a big role in that, even though he’s still working his way back from injury.

“He came out great, which was huge,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said afterward. “We knew it was going to be hard, but … ‘load manage’ him, as I think as everyone says in the media? I just say ‘not playing as much,’ but I thought we did that in the first half.”

Getting that performance from the passing game allowed the 49ers to squeak by a banged-up Buccaneers team that put together some tough scoring drives in the second half of the game. Tampa Bay has been a tough out this season in just about every game, but a team with the expectations of the 49ers should be able to beat them more decisively. The Bucs are probably just a wild-card quality team, but they still very much have a chance to win the NFC South and host a home playoff game.

The good news about this game is that the 49ers won and they’re unlikely to get a performance this bad again from their ground game. Shanahan and McCaffrey are too good for this to be a continuing trend for the rest of the season. They’ll need his full impact on the offense considering the defense has ranged from average to below average in 2024.

This is crunch time for the 49ers. Every week from here on out will have swings on their playoff potential, especially if the Cardinals squeeze a few more wins out of the rest of their schedule. Getting McCaffrey back is a big win for the second half of the season, but they still need to play like a more complete team.

That’s certainly possible with the amount of top-end talent on their roster. Sunday was a step forward for the 49ers in terms of performance, but there’s still certainly work for them to do.

“I’m just happy I’m here, man,” McCaffrey said. “That was a long journey and a lot of long days. It feels good to win, and it feels good to just play in a football game again.”