With Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers offense stymied by three interceptions, Christian McCaffrey was the dependable workhorse the Niners needed.
Playing against his former franchise for the first time, McCaffrey delivered time and again on an exhausting night, racking up 142 scrimmage yards on 31 touches with a rushing score to push the 49ers to a 20-9 win over the Carolina Panthers on Monday night.
"He's Mr. Reliable," Purdy said of McCaffrey, who now leads the NFL with 217 carries, 298 touches and 1,581 yards from scrimmage following his league-best 10th game with 100-plus scrimmage yards.
Dependable as McCaffrey has become for the 49ers, playing the Panthers was certainly novel for the three-time Pro Bowl back, who greeted former teammates Ryan Kalil and Luke Kuechly, both now retired, before the game and hugged plenty others postgame.
In between the hugs, McCaffrey was a force who continued to pile up statistics and milestones.
"When it comes to playing in this league, you have to approach each week as similar as possible, stay in your routine," McCaffrey said of how he approached playing versus the Panthers. "You can't get too far outside of what's normal for you. So, I tried to do that and obviously when you see familiar faces, it's always good to see them before the game and after the game. But you know that's a completely new team than when I was there so it's really just business once the ball is snapped."
He had touches on the first five plays of the game, spearheading a 15-play, 72-yard opening salvo that ended with a 12-yard Jauan Jennings touchdown catch.
"Obviously we have to continue to find ways to get him the ball," Purdy said.
McCaffrey had 24 carries for 89 yards -- both game highs, while recording six receptions for 78 yards on 10 targets -- all of those game highs, as well.
"Just the way he trains and his preparation and understanding what he's about to go through every single game, like that dude is on a routine and on a schedule better than anybody that I know," Purdy said of McCaffrey. "So, he's able to carry that kind of workload and make the plays out of the backfield as a receiver and then run the ball hard and fight and scratch and claw for every yard. We have nothing but the utmost respect for that guy and what he does for our team and does it over and over again. Obviously, the numbers are great, but more than anything he's a great example for all of us in the locker room."
With his receiving output, CMC registered his 50th career game with 50-plus receiving yards, joining him with Larry Centers (55) and Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk as the only players in league history with 50 or more games with 50-plus receiving yards. Now with 81 receptions, McCaffrey leads the league in that department, as well.
If McCaffrey's able to finish the season leading the league in catches, he'll become the first running back to do so since 49ers legend Roger Craig in 1985.
Back in 2019 with the Panthers, McCaffrey joined Faulk and Craig as the only NFL backs to ever record 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving in the same season.
With 796 rushing yards (tied for 10th in NFL) and 785 receiving yards after Monday, McCaffrey has five games left to potentially become the first player to ever pull off the feat twice.
Though that glorious 2019 campaign was a hallmark of his Carolina tenure, McCaffrey is now very much the engine for the 49ers offense. He's coming off a 2024 season in which injuries limited him to four games. Thus, there will always be some concern with the workload given McCaffrey, who has twice before led the league in touches (2019 and 2023) and followed each of those seasons with years in which he was limited to less than five games due to injury.
So far, so great for McCaffrey and the 49ers, though, with the running back's latest example of astounding durability and production coming at the expense of his former team, which traded him to the 49ers amid the 2022 season.
"Right when he got traded and he came here, Jimmy (Garoppolo) was going through the stuff as a starter and as a backup, like, I was the one sort of just helping Christian as much as I could, walking through plays and stuff after practice and meeting a little extra and going over stuff," Purdy recalled. "So, you could tell he was on top of it and I was like, man, this is Christian McCaffrey. Like All-Pro running back and everything, I wasn't really sure how he was going to be but he acted like he was a rookie in terms of wanting to learn, wanting to know all the ins and outs of the offense and the details. He's been like that, and he still is like that. You guys see it every Sunday and he puts on performances like this."
There was some sentimentality on Monday night for McCaffrey, but it did nothing to slow him down as he carries along in another season that is on track to make more history.
