SANTA CLARA — The 49ers are atop the NFC West in a most unusual fashion. They’re doing enough just to get by on offense with key players on the sidelines, nowhere near the juggernaut they were in previous years when they were laying waste to the division and going deep into the playoffs.
The latest example Sunday was a 16-15 win over the Arizona Cardinals, with a 10-play, 63-yard drive finished off by a 35-yard field goal by Eddy Pineiro. The play was set up on a middle screen to Christian McCaffrey, who broke loose for 20 yards on a pass from Mac Jones to keep the field goal attempt at a reasonable distance.
Without George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk, Brock Purdy and Jauan Jennings, this isn’t your father’s 49ers offense, Or even that of your uncle or aunt. This was Jones, McCaffrey and Ricky Pearsall Jr. hoping to score enough points to reward a defense that was stout even with the loss of Nick Bosa to a knee injury in the first half.
In three games, the 49ers have scored 17, 26 and 16 points and won them all. They’ll probably need to sustain their gritty personality for a few more weeks until the cavalry arrives in the form of Kittle, Purdy, Aiyuk and Jennings.
And if Bosa is out for any length of time — coach Kyle Shanahan said an ACL tear wasn’t confirmed by initial tests but he couldn’t rule it out — they’ll probably need to score even more.
San Francisco 49ers’ Nick Bosa (97) heads to the locker room in the second quarter of their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Pearsall has blossomed into a top-flight NFL receiver as evidenced by eight receptions for 117 yards including a 34-yard strike on fourth-and-2 from Jones that set up a 1-yard flip from Jones to Kyle Juszczyk.
But can McCaffrey possibly keep this up?
He carried 17 times for 52 yards and caught eight passes for 88 more. And it’s conceivable he took more punishment in those 25 snaps than at any time since donning a 49ers’ uniform for the first time in 2022.
McCaffrey averaged just 3.1 yards per carry and took everything the Arizona defensive line have to offer. Linebacker Mack Wilson blew him up twice, once breaking up a pass and another time getting thrown down as if in a WWE bout along the sideline. All that was missing was the turnbuckle and hitting him over the head with a chair.
“We were in the cold tub next to each other and I told him, ‘You took a lot of hits,’ and he said, ‘Yeah, I’ll be good though,’” Jones recalled of his postgame chat with McCaffrey. “That’s just who he is. I’ve learned a lot about the body and what you need to do to get ready being around him.”
San Francisco 49ers’ Ricky Pearsall (1) makes a 34-yard catch for a first down against Arizona Cardinals’ Kei’Trel Clark (13) in the fourth quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
I asked McCaffrey if he is taking an almost perverse joy in taking the punishment and bouncing back to his feet.
“No, I do not,” McCaffrey said. “I don’t like getting hit. Sometimes there are games when you take a lot of shots and sometimes you don’t, but I feel great. It’s the nature of the best and what I’ve learned before is I’ve been very fortunate in this league to have a lot of success and had some seasons that have been humbling. I’ve realized that it’s better not to focus on anything other than what you can control in the moment and continue to grow and get better every week.”
Juszczyk, one of McCaffrey’s closest friends, said the entire focus of the 2023 NFL Offensive Player of the Year was to fully bounce back from last season’s bilateral Achilles tendinitis and PCL strain, which limited him to four games.
“I train with Christian in the offseason, and I’m telling you, there is nobody on this planet that trains like Christian McCaffrey,” Juszczyk said. “He put absolutely everything into getting back to his form. Six, seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. he was grinding. And you’re seeing that pay off. And it’s needed. He gets tackled 30 times a game. I get tackled once and I’m sore. No matter how many times he gets hit, he always has something left in the tank. He had that screen to put us in field goal position, and that’s the guy we’re going to call on in those types of situations.”
The 49ers ran 62 offensive plays and 32 of them went to McCaffrey — 17 rushes and 15 receiving targets.
Christian McCaffrey (23) of the 49ers escapes Mack Wilson Jr. of the Cardinals Sunday at Levi’s Stadium. Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group
That whole notion of working in Brian Robinson Jr. to take off some of the load? Shanahan did what he has always done when McCaffrey is healthy enough to take the field: Get him the ball one way or the other as many times as he can and damn the punishment.
Robinson carried only twice, but the good news is a quick toss to the right broke free for 19 yards on a drive that ended with a Jones interception with the game tied 13-13 with 5:19 to go.
Another good sign was the 49ers’ game-winning drive. Jones got things going with an 11-yard pass to tight end Jake Tonges, and then had a 10-yarder to Skyy Moore. There were consecutive passes to Kendrick Bourne of 7 and 11 yards.
By that point, the 49ers were at the Arizona 36 and in field goal range. It was then that the middle screen gained 20 more yards to make Pineiro’s game-winner more reasonable.
San Francisco 49ers kicker Eddy Pineiro (18) celebrates after kicking a 35-yard game-winning field goal in the fourth quarter of their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. San Francisco 49ers defeated the Arizona Cardinals 16-15. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
McCaffrey had an assist in terms of the play execution as well before the ball was even snapped. Jones said he got a quick tutorial from McCaffrey on the play before the ball was snapped because he hadn’t run it before.
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“You look around in the huddle and you have confidence because he’s Christian McCaffrey,” Jones said. “You know that he’s there and he’s going to make plays. I know he’s my safety blanket. I can throw it to him and I know I’ll get between 6 and 15 yards every time.”
McCaffrey already has 75 touches in three games. In 2023, he averaged 21.1 in 16 games. So Shanahan isn’t going to be shy about feeding him the ball. The question is whether he can hold up in the face of some punishment that borders on inhuman.
The 49ers’ hopes to retain their NFC West lead will depend on it.
San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Mac Jones (10) throws an interception against the Arizona Cardinals in the fourth quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
