Christian McCaffrey had the opportunity to make NFL history on Sunday in the 49ers’ dominant Week 10 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
But those efforts failed at EverBank Stadium. Literally just a few meters too short.
The All-Pro running back finished Sunday’s game without a touchdown for the first time since Week 13 of last season and failed to extend his touchdown streak to an NFL record 18 games. Had he found the end zone in North Florida, he would have become the first player in league history to score a scrimmage touchdown in 18 consecutive contests.
After the game, a resounding 34-3 victory, McCaffrey had a strange self-assessment of his performance and his inability to keep the streak alive.
“I suck,” he joked as the room filled with laughter. “Everyone else on the team scored a goal except me.”
On San Francisco’s second-to-last drive of the game, in which McCaffrey went scoreless and held a comfortable 31-point lead, coach Kyle Shanahan kept the star running back in the game to give him a chance to break the record.
From first-and-goal to fourth-and-goal, McCaffrey was targeted by backup quarterback Sam Darnold every time, but an incomplete pass on the final attempt dashed those hopes.
McCaffrey – and the rest of the 49ers – were stunned that he couldn’t match the record, but the most important goal of the day was accomplished.
“No, it means a lot to me that they keep me there at the end of the game and try to get me that record,” McCaffrey said. “But hey, I’m taking a big win.”
After the game, Shanahan explained his decision to keep McCaffrey in the game.
“I mean, 18 games in a row is a big record. So if we had a chance to do it, I would do it for him,” he said. “It’s all nerve-wracking; the last thing I want to do is for him to get hurt. But it was a big time for Elijah.” [Mitchell] to run the ball like that to get us there. Brock [Purdy] and Ronnie [Bell] made a huge third down that gave us a chance.
“When we got close, we told him to take it easy because we were going to try. We were close and wish we could have done it for him, but to do that 17 games in a row is a pretty big accomplishment.”
All good things must come to an end, it seems. But hopefully for the 49ers’ sake, winning isn’t one of them.