It was early the morning of Oct. 21 when Kyle Shanahan bumped into his assistant head coach, Anthony Lynn, at the 49ers’ practice facility. The Christian McCaffrey trade had happened hours earlier, and the place was buzzing. But for the time being, Shanahan figured his excitement needed tempering since he had to prepare for the Chiefs, and McCaffrey, presumably, wasn’t going to play.
Then, Lynn recounted his conversation from overnight with McCaffrey’s parents.
He’d called Christian’s dad, Ed, Lynn’s old teammate with the Broncos, to tell him just how excited he was about the deal. He also wound up talking to Ed’s wife, Lisa, who in turn told Lynn just before saying goodbye that she’d see him that weekend.
“Are you gonna help him move in?” Lynn asked.
“No,” Lisa answered, “I’m coming to watch him play.”
As it turns out, as Lisa was telling Lynn that she was coming to the game against the Chiefs, Christian was talking to Shanahan and GM John Lynch, only wanting to know how quickly they could get him an iPad with the San Francisco playbook. Which is probably why his mom didn’t miss a beat, and didn’t have the genuine sense of wonder Lynn did in relaying the story.
“And that was like five hours after we traded for him,” Shanahan said from the 49ers’ team plane on the tarmac at LAX late Sunday afternoon. “So me knowing their mindset coming in, that was pretty cool. It was like, . And that was just the way he attacked it. Those 48 hours were unbelievable. We gave him a lot of the plays we told him to prepare for, and there were a few that we didn’t tell him to prepare for that he was good to go with and figured out in the game.
“Now going forward to this week, it’s like he knows everything.”
It sure looked like it Sunday. McCaffrey, in his ninth full day with the 49ers, put on full display why his parents had very little doubt he’d find his way onto the field two days after officially joining Shanahan’s team. He also showed why both teams on that field were in such hot pursuit of his rights a week and a half earlier. And in doing that, he helped San Francisco, and Shanahan, avenge a particularly painful loss from 10 months ago.
Now the 49ers’ convincing 31–14 win over the Rams was, for sure, about more than just San Francisco’s new tailback. What McCaffrey did Sunday—in becoming the first player in 17 years to register a touchdown pass, run and catch all in the same game, and leading his team in catches (eight), carries (18), rushing yards (94), yards from scrimmage (149), passer rating (158.3) and, of course, touchdowns accounted for—was show the world just how good the 49ers could be once he really gets comfortable back in California.
And if the pace he’s been on is any indication, that should be pretty soon.
