2024 San Francisco 49ers struggling to find identity without star RB Christian McCaffrey

Alright I’ll go ahead and say it: The 49ers aren’t the same team without Christian McCaffrey on the field.

I know, shocking right? But it’s true; Through the first five weeks of the 2024 NFL season, this is not the Red & Gold of the past few years.

But San Francisco’s problems seem to be more than just missing one star player. And honestly, it’s a cop-out, and one the team isn’t even using because they know Christian McCaffrey is not the end-all, be-all solution to their problems.

The 49ers have an identity problem.

The 2024 49ers haven’t resembled a squad that’s made the NFC Championship game three years in a row. They’re 2-3 through the first five games of the year, third in the NFC West currently. SF is no stranger to slow starts in the past. In 2022, it entered its Week 9 Bye at a record of 4-4. A year later, the niners endured a three-game losing streak in the middle of the regular season. Both units figured it out, going to the NFC title game, and the latter made it to Super Bowl LVIII.

The problem isn’t that the 49ers started slow again in 2024; The problem is HOW it has happened, and to whom.

San Francisco has blow two late-game-double-digit leads in three weeks, both to divisional opponents. Week 3 against the Los Angeles Rams was jarring enough, allowing a depleted opponent to crawl back and overcome a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter. Week 5 was the cherry on top, allowing a lesser Arizona Cardinals squad to swoop in and come back from a 13-point hole at halftime. The 49ers would go scoreless in the second half of the latter as well.

Two collapses to two (on paper) weaker NFC West opponents.

Again, it’s early, and there’s plenty of time to fix things. But the 49ers’ squads of the last few years wouldn’t have let those games get out of hand, not even once for that matter. And coach Kyle Shanahan knows it, visibly baffled by what’s occurred thus far this season.

Most losses in regular season and playoffs for a coach in #49ers history after leading a game by 10+ points:
Kyle Shanahan 18
Bill Walsh 8
Dick Nolan 8
Steve Mariucci 6
Buck Shaw 6

— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) October 7, 2024

“Extremely frustrated. I think we had 13 points and 17 in the other. By no means should we be able to give that away,” the coach said postgame Week 5. “Always will come back to turnovers, in my opinion. There are other things you can do to overcome them. Talked about it last night, how we thought a key in this game would be turnovers, and that’s exactly what the first half was. Gave us a huge advantage and then it flipped in the second half.”

Other circumstances occurred that helped springboard their latest late-game blunder, mainly the loss of their kicker, Jake Moody, to injury near the end of the sound half.

But the 49ers’ biggest problem is inside the 20-yard-line.

The 49ers Can’t Score

Kyle Shanahan’s offense has been horrific in the redzone in 2024, now 30th in the NFL. Only the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots have been worse, and one of them lost their quarterback in Week 3.

The 49ers went 1/6 in the redzone against the Cardinals, a blistering 13% in Week 5. That’s not a surprise though. In fact, it’s been a recurring theme. San Francisco has gone 9/20 total since the start of 2024 season. Goal-to-go situations is even worse at 31st overall in the NFL.

For reference, San Francisco was 82.9% in goal-to-go in 2023, and 68% inside the 20.

#49ers are 30th in the NFL in the red zone, scoring TDs on 40.9% of their drives inside the opponent’s 20.

Worse, they’ve scored touchdowns on only six of 12 goal-to-go situations, a 50% mark that ranks 31st in the league and well short of the 82.9% they reached last season.

— Nick Wagoner (@nwagoner) October 7, 2024

Could the downtick in production be justified by Christian McCaffrey’s absence altogether? Maybe, but quarterback Brock Purdy and the rest of the offense knows it falls on the stars out there to execute.

That includes himself.

“I think we just need to play better and that starts on myself. Get down in the redzone, we’ve got to execute and score touchdowns,” Purdy said postgame. “I thought there was multiple times where we could have pulled away significantly in the first half…

“There’s that and then the second half when defense is getting stops, we can’t just turn the ball right back over. That’s pretty plain as day. We’ve just got to be better in that area and just back up the defense when the defense is doing their thing. We have to be able to go down the field and execute and put points up on the board, not give the other team life. So, we need to play better.”

McCaffrey did make life easier though; Numbers don’t lie.

CMC has 39 total TDs in 33 games played for the 49ers. Of the 26 scores on the ground, 20 have come on runs inside the redzone. Additionally, eight receiving TDs of McCaffrey have come inside the 20.

Simply put: Christian McCaffrey makes finishing drives easier. His presence requires the attention of opposing defenses, opening up the rest of Shanahan & Purdy’s creativity.

“Everything’s pretty tight. It’s close and we’ve just got to be aggressive. Obviously, it starts with me, I’m the guy with the ball,” Purdy continued. “So being aggressive to certain guys and matchups and giving guys chances, I’ve just got to be hard on myself with that….I’ve just got to be better and more aggressive down there. And then just collectively as a unit, once we’re down there, our mindset has to be we’ve got to punch this in. Obviously, we know we can settle for field goal, but we’ve got to hold ourselves to a higher standard and cross the goal line.”

The Standard of the 49ers

The last sentence of Purdy’s remarks is what’s also missing, really a word: Standard.

The 2024 49ers have not played to the standard of excellence of years’ past across the board. Shanahan’s offense can’t convert TDs. The defense is getting steamrolled, ninth-worst in both passing and rushing yards allowed. Something doesn’t seem to be clicking with the Red & Gold this season.

And yet, no-one can quite put their finger on it.

“This year, for sure, it feels weird,” cornerback Charvarius Ward told The San Francisco Chronicle’s Mike Silver postgame. “It feels real, real weird. I mean, hopefully it’ll turn around, but it’s just real peculiar. We’ve got a lot of talent, and we’re losing games we’re supposed to win.”

Ward wasn’t the only 49er to reiterate that phrase, as fellow CB Deommodore Lenoir, and fullback Kyle Juszyck said the same thing.

BROCK PURDY: “We’re still trying to find our true identity as a team, and we’re getting there. It’s a couple plays away — a couple drives away from gelling and gluing together.” pic.twitter.com/IHFnTxuPxz

— KNBR (@KNBR) October 7, 2024

Like it’s mentioned in the title: The 49ers are having a problem finding their identity right now.

Because of that, the standard is off through the first five weeks of the regular season. What caused it can be contributed to a number of factors. A mountain of injuries on both sides of the football to start the season, plus the hostility of rough contract sagas have weighed over this franchise for months.

The 49ers have overcome challenges before, but what happens when the hits just keep coming? Especially after enduring another heartbreaking Super Bowl collapse only eight months ago?

Establishing identity becomes a bit more daunting when the preseason and past haunt those that enter the hollowed ground of an almost 30-year-old title drought.

“Yeah, it’s the standard here, is excellence and what we’ve proven in the last couple years of the standard of what we can play at,” Purdy stated. “That’s what we’re trying to get to. But every year is different with just the team, the chemistry and getting guys together…

“It’s early in the season and we’re still trying to find our true identity as a team and we’re getting there. It’s a couple plays away and a couple drives away from gelling and gluing together. But I’m confident that we’ll find it. We’ve just got to get into a rhythm and play complementary team football. We’ve got a Thursday Night game coming up, so we’ll have another chance at it.”

Week 6 in Seattle on a short week almost serves as a blessing in disguise for this sleeping giant. Going 0-3 against the rest of the division certainly puts the 49ers in less favorable optics the rest of the way.

But if there’s one thing we’ve learned about the Kyle Shanahan 49ers: Expect them to find their footing at some point down the line.

That’s what the veterans on the team expect in order to get back to their standard. But they’ll have to do it down a heap of talent on a very top-heavy roster.

“Since Kyle’s taken over, this organization has found ways to win. It’s not about how good your players are, how explosive an offensive is or how good a defense is. If you’re turning the ball over and you’re not making those plays on defense in crucial moments, you’re going to lose in the NFL,” defensive end Nick Bosa explained. “I haven’t lost any confidence in this team. It’s early. It’s a long year. We’ve been through worse and I think we’ll respond well.

Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers are focused on their quick turnaround for Thursday night’s game in Seattle pic.twitter.com/q39WhUXofh

— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) October 7, 2024

This time around, they’ll have to face adversity without the 2024 NFL Offensive Player of the Year to set the tone.

As for where Christian McCaffrey stands? Shanahan and the 49ers are closely monitoring him, hoping to accelerate his ramp-up process from bilateral achilles tendinitis in the coming weeks.

Until then, the Red & Gold will have to find their identity with the next man up, holding the standard restores itself in the meantime. That can start this week against the Seahawks. Or, it could crater the 49ers’ chances of another deep playoff run further.

Their destiny remains within their control. Signs, however, currently point to the direction of unraveling quickly if their identity doesn’t change drastically.

Signs point to this being the “Year From Hell” for the 49ers. Same as it was in 2020 following thr first Super Bowl hangover.

49ers Monday Estimated Injury Report

DNP:

WR Chris Conley (oblique)

DL Jordan Elliott (knee)

LB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (calf)

S Talanoa Hufanga (wrist)

K Jake Moody (ankle)

CB Charvarius Ward (knee)

Limited:

S Ji’Ayir Brown (ankle)

TE George Kittle (ribs)

LB Fred Warner (ankle)

Full:

WR Jacob Cowing (shoulder)

San Francisco 49ers 2024 Schedule:

Regular Season

• Thursday, October 10th @ Seattle Seahawks [TNF] – 5:15 pm PDT
• Sunday, October 20th vs. Kansas City Chiefs [SB LVIII Rematch]– 1:25 pm PDT
• Sunday, October 27th vs. Dallas Cowboys [SNF] – 5:20 pm PDT
• Week 9 Bye Week
• Sunday, November 10th @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 10 am PDT

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