By: Justin Gincauskas

The San Francisco 49ers are taking every precaution heading into Week 18 with the NFC number one seed already locked up. 49ers’ running back Christian McCaffrey, who suffered a calf injury in Sunday’s 27-10 victory over the Washington Commanders, will sit out the regular season finale against the Los Angeles Rams.

Christian McCaffrey suffered the injury in the third quarter of Sunday’s game and did not return. He had 64 rushing yards and 27 receiving yards before leaving the game.

When addressing reporters Monday, head coach Kyle Shanahan described the strain in McCaffrey’s right calf as “mild.” Shanahan is confident that the injury is not significant, and that McCaffrey will be good to go in time for San Francisco’s first playoff game.

“We’re real confident on that,” Shanahan said. “It was good news. It could have been a lot worse. We’re happy that they’ll take care of him this week and hopefully, he’ll start getting to go during our off week.”

By keeping McCaffrey out in Week 18, the 49ers will give him almost three weeks to recover before their next game. San Francisco has a first-round bye in the playoffs and will not play until the NFC Divisional Round, which takes place Jan. 20-21.

With his 2023 regular season over, McCaffrey will finish with 1,459 rushing yards, which is the most he has had in a season in his career. He also finishes with 14 rushing touchdowns, 564 receiving yards, and seven receiving touchdowns.

With nothing to play for in the final game of the regular season, Shanahan must decide which players will rest and which will play. For him, that is not an easy decision to make.

“When you give guys a game off, practice changes too, and that can end up hurting guys a lot, just developing bad habits, and I’ve seen it cost a lot of teams,” Shanahan said. “You rest players and that sometimes gets more players injured. So, all that stuff you’ve got to balance out, and that’s why there’s not a clear-cut decision on anything.”

With McCaffrey out, San Francisco will likely turn to Elijah Mitchell to get most of the carries against the Rams. Mitchell had 17 carries for 80 yards and a touchdown against the Commanders on Sunday.

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