The 49ers head into Week 7 with more uncertainty than clarity, and John Lynch didn’t do much to change that on Wednesday.
San Francisco’s unbeaten start has them facing a road trip to the 2-4 Atlanta Falcons, and while the front office won’t say this game is any less important, the circumstances point in that direction. The Niners are coming off a Monday night win over the Washington Commanders that was far tighter than they likely wanted, and now they have to turn around quickly and go east. With a bye week waiting right after, the temptation to be cautious is obvious.
That caution starts with Mike Evans. The wide receiver left the Commanders game after two quarters after aggravating his Achilles, and the offense clearly lost steam once he was gone. Lynch wouldn’t commit to whether Evans will suit up Sunday.
"I think it's still TBD," Lynch told KNBR 680 on Wednesday. "We've got a couple of more days.
We're going to take every bit of those to try to ascertain where Mike's at. He's done a really good job treating this thing, and obviously, we know of Mike's toughness."
He kept the same tone when he added: "So, we'll let these next couple of days play out and make a decision when we have to,"
and then: "Mike's that type of player that you wait, you let the process play itself out, and we'll see where we're at at the end of the week."
The idea of holding Evans out becomes even more believable with the bye coming up, even if that means San Francisco could be short-handed at receiver in Atlanta.
Nick Bosa is in a similar holding pattern. The defensive end has missed time with a calf injury after appearing in just two games this season, though the 49ers’ defensive front has held up better than expected without him. Lynch didn’t offer a firm answer there either.
"He's kind of in that same Mike Evans bucket where we will kind of evaluate Nick here in the next couple of days," Lynch added before suggesting there'd be news from head coach Kyle Shanahan on Friday before the team departs for Georgia.
Lynch still made the standard point that no team goes into a week planning to ease off.
"You try to win every game in this league."
Even so, the bigger picture is hard to miss. San Francisco may choose patience over urgency here, especially with the bye on deck and two of its best players still in question.
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