The 49ers and head coach Kyle Shanahan narrowly averted disaster in their 2021 season opener when they nearly blew a 41-17 lead in under two minutes. That too-close-for-comfort victory stood out in the list of reasons why San Francisco continued playing its starters late into their 30-7 win over the Steelers on Sunday.
In that game against the Lions the 49ers led 41-17 until Detroit scored touchdowns with 1:53 and 1:07 left in the fourth quarter. They converted both two-point tries, and then a Deebo Samuel fumble gave the Lions the ball back with 52 seconds left.
In their 2023 season opener San Francisco controlled their game in Pittsburgh the same way. A Jake Moody field goal with 5:30 left pushed the 49ers’ lead to 30-7. The game looked like a wrap, but the club’s starters stayed in most of the rest of the way.
Shanahan on Wednesday in a press conference cited that Lions game in 2021 as part of the reason he ran the risk of playing his defensive starters into the final drive of a blowout win.
“Yeah, you pull guys when you think the game’s over and you do that off of experience and we didn’t think the game was over when it’s at that point,” Shanahan said. “Now, sometime in that drive because it took so long, we debated whether to take them out before that drive or not. We’d been in that situation before, we decided not to. We kept Bosa out just for a third down, but ended up going longer and then we didn’t want to pull them out in the middle of it. So, we kept that drive. But, that was the last drive of the game. We decided that before it, just went long.”
It makes sense given the team’s recent experience with nearly blowing what appeared to be an insurmountable lead. However, the team also has recent experience with player availability dramatically impacting their Super Bowl hopes.
Threading the needle between when to play starters and not is certainly not easy, and Shanahan’s explanation for the defensive starters staying in makes sense.
The one that doesn’t quite track is running back Christian McCaffrey’s heavy workload late in that contest. Of the seven designed runs in the fourth quarter, which San Francisco led by 20 going into, McCaffrey carried five of them. His backup, Elijah Mitchell, only had two of them.
The 49ers have a deep backfield with players like Mitchell and Jordan Mason who have proven effective in a de facto ‘closer’ role where they churn out tough yards to help salt the game away. That takes some of the overall onus off of McCaffrey, who played all but 10 offensive snaps, but it also helps keep him fresh for the entire season.
Ultimately this is a good problem to have to deal with. Most teams would be thrilled to be trying to figure out when to pull their starters because they’re up by so many points. And if the 49ers continue playing for the rest of the year the way they played Sunday, Shanahan will certainly be in a position to have to make this decision again.
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