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San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is one of the most respected head coaches in the NFL. But, he stepped in hot water with many fans after leaving Christian McCaffrey in the game well after other starters had been lifted.
Many fans think the context here revolves around Christian McCaffrey’s streak of consecutive games with a touchdown, which sat at 17.
Late in the 4th quarter, with McCaffrey still without a touchdown and the game well out of reach, the 49ers had pulled most of their starters. But, McCaffrey was still in there in a game they were winning 34-3 for some goal line reps.
On 4th and goal, McCaffrey was targeted on a pass play that clearly looked like a thinly-veiled attempt at getting him a touchdown for what would have been an NFL record-breaking 18th straight game. But, the pass fell incomplete.
The 49ers are up by 31 points and all of their starters are out… except for Christian McCaffrey.
Head Coach Kyle Shanahan did everything that he could to get CMC’s touchdown streak to reach 18 games, but it was unsuccessful. pic.twitter.com/iGsdRw6kV8
— Arye Pulli (@AryePulli) November 12, 2023
People were not pleased, for various reasons.
“I love how Kyle Shanahan, after snapping at reporters in media sessions all week before the Jags game and basically acting like a little crybaby, put McCaffrey at risk up 34-3 so he could get his little TD record. This guy is no Vince Lombardi that’s for sure,” one Twitter user said.
“Shanahan should have kept the starters in for CMC. And if you’re going to be obvious that it is going to him, just hand it off and let him run it in. That was just DUMB,” another said
“Shanahan keeping in a key player like CMC who has an extensive injury history in a game when you are demolishing your opponent in the 4th quarter to break some meaningless record is idiotic,” a particularly astute account said.
Overall, it was still a great day for Christian McCaffrey. He had 16 carries for 97 yards, and caught six passes for 47 yards. Most importantly, the 49ers came off of their bye week and snapped a three-game losing streak to get to 6-3.