It's happened before. In fact, it's happened a lot before. And now, the banged-up San Francisco 49ers are licking their wounds (perhaps in misguided hope that that will accelerate healing) before facing one of the healthiest — and most potent — teams in the entire NFL.
The Niners have earned notoriety for their consistently long injury lists, and the 2022 campaign has started no differently to most of those in the past decade, raising questions as to whether the problem is actually more systemic than pure bad luck.
Already this year, San Francisco — who started the year amongst a lot of people's tips for a Super Bowl appearance — has lost QB Trey Lance, DT Maurice Hurst and CB Emmanuel Moseley for the season, while the entrance to the trainers' facility may shortly be changed for a revolving door, such has been the demand for medical attention.
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With just a couple of days before the 49ers marquee matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs, add lockdown corner Charvarius Ward, DT duo Arik Armstead and Javon Kinlaw, RT Mike McGlinchey, All-Pro LT Trent Williams, his backup Colton McKivitz, free safety Jimmie Ward, RB Elijah Mitchell, LB Azeez Al-Shaair and CB Jason Verrett — who hasn't been seen all season — to the casualty list. Bad, huh? Well, throw in three (yes, three) members of the offense-wrecking defensive end room, in the shape of Samson Ebukam, Drake Jackson and Nick Bosa, as well as surprise package safety Talanoa Hufanga, and 'bad' suddenly seems an insufficient adjective.
Of course, the injury report for any NFL team remains a fluid thing, with players coming and going from day to day, and the Niners are hopeful that some of the names on their list this week are only suffering niggling problems. Charvarius Ward, McGlinchey and Ebukam are all considered day-to-day, but Bosa and Williams have a better-than-average chance of starting Sunday, according to head coach Kyle Shanahan.
"Getting anybody back helps this team, and especially getting those two guys back would be huge," Shanahan said, adding that Jimmie Ward might try to play with a cast on his recently broken hand. "Everyone gets frustrated with [injuries] — coaches, fans, players — but I've gotten more hardened to it, I think. I just try to deal with it. You have to gameplan for everyone, to have ways to go even when everyone’s healthy. That can change on the first play of the game.”
Somehow, despite the injury reports and losing to the Atlanta Falcons last weekend, the 49ers remain at the top of the NFC West, controlling a three-way tie with the Rams and Seahawks thanks to wins over both this season. However, with a much-needed bye week still a couple of games away, San Fran will have to drag themselves through games against the Chiefs and then the Rams return at SoFi to maintain that position.
In direct contrast to the 49ers, Kansas City are one of the healthiest teams in the NFL right now, with key figures like QB Patrick Mahomes and TE Travis Kelce seemingly available on an ongoing basis. Sunday's primetime meeting will be the first since the two teams clashed in Super Bowl LIV, and the Niners will need no reminding how that one went.
“I love thinking of our team that year," Shanahan reflects. "I felt like we had the best team in football, but we ended up being the second best because we didn’t get it done in the end. I hadn’t watched [the game] recently until these last two days but, yeah, I don’t like watching it.
“You don’t ever see people play like [Mahomes]. There’s not many people in the history of football as good as him. It reminds me of [Hall of Fame QB John] Elway watching him. Just how he’s a top thrower and the way he can move. He’s not always doing it just with a flat-out 40, running away from people, but the way he feels space and can create time. As he does it, his vision down the field, with that arm talent, is tough to deal with.
“Similarly, I think Kelce is probably one of the best separators in this league, with the best hands in this league. So whether he separates or not, he can catch that ball on guys. Usually, though, he does separate and then he has got a quarterback that’s good at throwing, so that’s always a problem.”
Both teams come into the weekend off the back of a loss albeit, in KC's case, to the red-hot Buffalo Bills. The Niners defeat in Atlanta wasn't helped by their defensive injury list — Bosa, Armstead and Kinlaw were all missing — but the consistency issue discussed in this column a couple of weeks ago raised its head once more too. However, without the same cohort of players on the field week-in week-out, it seems unlikely consistency can ever be achieved.
The 49ers' current Head of Player Health and Performance, Ben Peterson, arrived after the 2018 season in which Jimmy Garoppolo was lost to a knee injury in Week 3 — ironically, against the Chiefs — but suggestions that he and his team would bring about an improvement in the health of the roster have yet to manifest themselves four years down the line.
According to The Athletic, four of the club's six team captains were unavailable for the Falcons game; seven would-be defensive starters either didn’t start or didn’t finish the game; and, among the team's six highest salary cap players, only McGlinchey had started every game — and he was lost to injury in Atlanta and may miss this Sunday. It doesn't bode well.
In all honesty, anyone looking at San Francisco's 3-3 record and matching it to the portion of the schedule already played will wonder how they're not out in front of their division, but defeats to Denver, Chicago and Atlanta stand out like sore thumbs — not the sort of injury to warrant queueing at Ben Peterson's door — raising question marks over whether the 49ers can really consider themselves contenders in the long term this season, even if the head coach remains bullish.
“I think we’re right there with everyone else," Shanahan insisted. "I think most of this league is pretty close to the same spot. There’s a couple of teams that are ahead of everyone and there’s a couple teams behind everyone. I believe we have just as good a chance as anyone in this league.”
Like he said, the head coach has 'gotten more hardened' to the injury situation.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
LB Fred Warner on the 49ers defensive performance against Atlanta.
"It just felt kinda soft out there."
MVP OF THE WEEK
Brandon Aiyuk, WR
On a day when Ray-Ray McCloud and Charlie Woerner suffered from the drops, Aiyuk came through with one of his best-ever performances. Despite not even being targeted until the start of the second quarter, the wideout scored eight receptions from 11 targets, racking up 83 yards and two touchdowns in the Niners losing effort against Atlanta.
STAT OF THE WEEK: 0-3
San Francisco's vaunted defensive unit couldn't snag a single turnover against the Falcons, while the home side claimed three takeaways to salt away an unexpected victory.
TWEET OF THE WEEK
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