The San Francisco 49ers’ 5-0 start has plenty going for it, but the cleanest sign of how well this team is operating might be the one thing it’s not doing: leaning on Christian McCaffrey to carry the whole offense.
That’s the real shift here. Last season, the 49ers were basically McCaffrey or bust.
His workload was enormous, and while it was a ridiculous load to ask of one player, it was also the engine that kept the offense moving. Without him, the 49ers likely don’t reach the playoffs.
This year feels different. They still expected to be good, and five straight wins is still five straight wins, especially with a victory over the Seattle Seahawks after the Seahawks had beaten the 49ers the last two times. But the most striking part isn’t just the record - it’s the way they’ve gotten there.
Brock Purdy has been sharp. Mike Evans has been sharp. And the defense under Raheem Morris has been lights-out.
Even so, the offense’s most important development is that it doesn’t live and die with McCaffrey anymore. San Francisco has moved away from asking him to handle the kind of impossible burden he carried before. The 49ers knew they could not reproduce that workload in 2026, not even close.
Kyle Shanahan hinted during the offseason that the team needed to help McCaffrey out. That’s a line he’s used in previous offseasons, so it was fair to be skeptical. This time, though, there was a real difference: McCaffrey wasn’t coming off that same outrageous usage, and he also isn’t the same player he was in 2023, when he won Offensive Player of the Year.
That reality showed up in the running game last year, and Shanahan clearly took note. It helped shape the decision to draft Kaelon Black, who has done a solid job stepping in for McCaffrey in short stretches.
But Black isn’t the only reason McCaffrey’s workload has eased. Purdy is contributing too, because Shanahan is calling more passing plays than he has in past seasons. The passing game is driving the offense more than the run game, and that means San Francisco is leaning more on Purdy and his receivers than on McCaffrey.
For the 49ers, that’s both surprising and impressive. More importantly, it gives them a way to keep McCaffrey fresh for the moments later in the season when they may need him to take on a heavy load again.
Shanahan almost certainly has that option waiting in reserve. For now, though, the offense is humming with a different identity.
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Brock Purdy Debate Takes An Ugly Turn As Old Take Resurfaces
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49ers Must Clean Up One Costly Issue To Stay Unbeaten Monday Night
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Washington offers a different kind of test, though, because Jayden Daniels can stress defenses in a hurry and the Commanders have been good at taking care of the ball. For San Francisco, the cleaner path is obvious: stay sharp on third down, avoid giveaways, and make the most of what should be favorable moments late in the game. If the 49ers can do that, they should be in position to keep both the win streak and the bigger Monday night chase intact. [Read more 🡒]