Heading into their Week 13 matchup against the Buffalo Bills, the San Francisco 49ers had a lengthy list of star players missing the game due to injuries. And unfortunately, another star may now be done for the season following a nasty-looking non-contact injury on Sunday Night Football.
The Sunday Night Football matchup between the 49ers and Bills was far from your average NFL game. Buffalo, who hosted the game at Highmark Stadium, received a significant amount of snow over the weekend, which carried into the game.
To say the field conditions were poor in the game would be an understatement… Lateral movement was at a minimum for players on both teams. And this unfortunately led to what one could argue was an unsafe playing condition for both teams.
San Francisco felt the brunt of this in a season-altering way.
Star running back Christian McCaffrey, who is just rounding back into form after missing the first eight games of the season with Achilles tendinitis, suffered a non-contact knee injury in the second quarter on a rush attempt.
That did not look good for 49ers star RB Christian McCaffrey. #NFL #SNF pic.twitter.com/OZa3z6F9ck
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 2, 2024
McCaffrey would not return in the game, which was devastating for the 49ers offense. They would go on to be largely non-competitive, falling in the game 35-10, which was essentially over by halftime.
After the game, we received an update on McCaffrey from 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, detailing that McCaffrey had suffered a PCL injury, which he said could potentially end his season.
Obviously, this is worst-case scenario for a team that has struggled mightily this season and desperately needs all the help they can get to stay in the NFC playoff picture.
But first and foremost, fans felt bad for McCaffrey, who has had an incredibly tough season with injuries.
“Praying for Christian McCaffrey,” one fan wrote on X.
“It appears a frustrating season for 49ers star Christian McCaffrey ends like this,” wrote Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.
“Madden curse lives on,” another fan wrote.
This further adds to the injury problems for the 49ers, who already came into this game without several key figures on their team, including Nick Bosa, Trent Williams, Dre Greenlaw, and Deommodore Lenoir.
