SANTA CLARA – The 49ers' top defensive players expect to play in the finale of the 2023 NFL regular season against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
Or . . . At least they're approaching the week of practice feeling like they're going to spend most of the game on the field.
“Right now, my expectation is to play the entire game until told otherwise,” 49ers Pro Bowl linebacker Fred Warner said.
Coach Kyle Shanahan certainly doesn't plan on going all out to beat the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at Levi's Stadium.
The 49ers (12-4) cannot improve their playoff ranking because of their No. 1 seed, which gave them a bye in the first round of the playoffs and home-field advantage throughout the NFC side of the bracket.
Quarterback Brock Purdy will share snaps with backup Sam Darnold during practice week, but Darnold will start Sunday's game against the Rams.
Running back Christian McCaffrey said he would definitely play if the 49ers had to win this game, but since he left last week's game with a mild calf strain, he won't see any action, Shanahan said.
But Shanahan wants his other seven Pro Bowl players to approach this week with the mindset of preparing to play in a game.
“I’m going to prepare like I’m going to play no matter what and what the head coach says, no matter,” Warner said.
The 49ers likely won't impose the typical gameday workload on their frontline players. But Shanahan doesn't want his players to idle this week either.
“I think keeping your head in a normal week is the right thing to do at this point,” 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa said. “Maybe it won’t be quite as physically demanding. And who knows how much playing time you’ll actually get on Sunday, but that attitude is the most important thing.”
The 49ers and the AFC's top seed Baltimore Ravens received a bye in the first round of the playoffs. In this playoff format, the No. 1 seeded teams opened the playoffs on a Saturday during the divisional round in each of the last two seasons. If this pattern continues, the 49ers' first playoff game would be Saturday, January 20th.
Warner said the reward of a first-round playoff bye was good enough for him. He said he didn't need the extra rest that might come with a week-long win.
“I really don’t feel like we need two bye weeks,” Warner said. “I feel like the fact that we earned a week is everything. That's great.
“When next week comes, we will take full advantage of it. But for now the plan was to play 17 games, so we still have one game left, so we will play it.”
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