For the last ten seasons, a quarterback has won the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award.
It’s a truth that wasn’t lost on the San Francisco 49ers’ locker room following their 35-16 victory against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
However, when running back Christian McCaffrey racked up 177 yards from scrimmage, scored four times, and established a team mark for the most straight games with at least one touchdown (13, including playoffs), left tackle Trent Williams was bold to suggest it was time to change.
“Hey, all them streaks come to an end eventually, right?” According to Williams. “This could be the year.” “I notice it.”
It will be one year on Oct. 20 since the Niners acquired McCaffrey from the Carolina Panthers in exchange for second, third, and fourth-round selections in the 2023 NFL draughts and a fifth-round pick in 2024. When the Niners signed him, general manager John Lynch described him as a “force multiplier,” a guy who can lift everyone around him.
That has been clear throughout McCaffrey’s tenure with the club, but never more so than on Sunday afternoon. On the Niners’ opening possession, McCaffrey broke Jerry Rice’s record by leaping into the end zone from 1 yard out.
“That means a lot,” added McCaffrey. “Touchdowns are great fun. We’re hoping to keep it going.”
McCaffrey got a lateral from quarterback Brock Purdy, made a defender miss, hurdled another, and sprinted to the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown on San Francisco’s second drive. When McCaffrey made the play, Williams was nearby and quickly marched up to tell him, “Man, you’re a bad boy.”
McCaffrey added a 6-yard touchdown reception from Purdy and a 2-yard scoring run to tie for the second-most touchdowns in team history in a single game. It was such a great performance that Los Angeles Lakers player LeBron James wrote on X, “CMC you’re ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!!!” THANK YOU.”
McCaffrey’s performance isn’t confined to this Sunday. He has a league-leading 600 yards and seven touchdowns from scrimmage in four games (tied for the most in the NFL). He and Hall of Famers Jim Brown (1963 and 1958) and Emmitt Smith (1995) are the only players in NFL history to have at least 600 scrimmage yards and seven touchdowns in their first four games.
McCaffrey has appeared in 14 regular-season games for the Niners since taking over as starter on Oct. 30, 2022. In three games (all of which he won), he had 1,748 scrimmage yards. That number leads the NFL and is the second-most yards from scrimmage by a player during a 14-game winning streak, trailing only Terrell Davis (1,849 in 1997-98), the Hall of Fame Denver Broncos running back who played with McCaffrey’s father, Ed, on those teams.
“I’m not sure on the whole rest of the league right now but I thought he played like [an MVP] last year when he was here,” Kyle Shanahan, the coach, said. “Christian’s so awesome, he helps us win every time he’s out there, but when you’ve got a guy who can do it all, you can always have unbelievable stats, but he shares that with a lot of other guys, and we do whatever it takes to win.” So that, to me, is what would make it the most difficult for him, simply facts and how things work out.”
Another possible stumbling block in McCaffrey’s MVP quest is his own teammate, Purdy. Purdy finished 20-of-21 for 283 yards and a score with a passing rating of 134.6 on Sunday, while McCaffrey was rushing through the Cardinals. He also scored on the ground.
Purdy also made some history, as his 95.2% completion percentage is the best in 49ers history and the fourth-highest by any quarterback in NFL history who attempted at least 20 throws. Drew Brees’ 96.7% mark in 2019 still stands as the NFL record.
“He was great,” Shanahan remarked. “He was nearly perfect… he hung in there and made some big throws.” That defence doesn’t always give you the huge passes, so you have to pick them apart. He was really effective at it. And when he got his chances for big ones, he saw them correctly, made the appropriate passes, and our guys came down with them.”
Purdy, who has been out of the game for about seven months due to a damaged ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, claimed he didn’t realise he had missed just one throw until the time ran out.
Purdy focused on the play that got away, a misfire to McCaffrey in the flat on a third-and-24 from Arizona’s 46 with 10:52 remaining in the third quarter.
“Honestly, I’m still mad about what I missed to Christian,” stated Purdy. “He escaped. He was approachable. I should have struck him, and we’d be in field goal range. That is something I will have to learn from and wish I could have back.”
Purdy hasn’t had many of those this season. Purdy leads the NFL in QBR (84.8), is ninth in passing yards (1,019), second in yards per attempt (9.1), third in completion percentage (72.3%), and one of three starting quarterbacks without an interception entering Sunday’s game.
Aside from that, the Niners are 9-0 in Purdy’s regular-season starts, which is the fourth-most straight victories by a quarterback in the Super Bowl era.
“I think you can just go down the list of what makes a quarterback good and he checks every box,” said McCaffrey. “And then he has all the intangibles, which would be fantastic.” Every day, he exudes a certain confidence and enthusiasm that is infectious. He’s quiet, but he’s adamant. He shows it in the way he plays.”
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