SANTA CLARA – Christian McCaffrey was on his way out of Levi’s Stadium on Sunday when a question perplexed him: How does it feel to be the NFL’s rushing champ?
McCaffrey acted as if he’d been asked what the soup du jour was. As in, why would he care?
Now, he meant no disrespect toward the rushing crown, his first in seven NFL seasons and the 49ers’ only such accomplishment since Joe “The Jet” Perry finished first in both 1953 and ’54.
“That’s awesome,” McCaffrey said after the 49ers’ meaningless 21-20 loss to the Rams. “But it’s on to the next step.”
McCaffrey’s eyes are on what he has called “The Prize,” as in the Lombardi Trophy, which the 49ers are three postseason wins away from claiming Feb. 11 at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas.
A couple of weeks ago, McCaffrey stood at his locker and explained that game-day mementos don’t interest him. For example:
— He scored 21 touchdowns – the second-most in team history behind Jerry Rice’s 23 in 1987 — but he doesn’t keep any of the touchdown footballs in his locker.
— Each game he dons a new pair of size-11 ½ Nike Vaper Edge Pro cleats. Then he buries them in the pull-out drawer at the base of his locker. It’s stuffed to the brim with them. They’re out of sight, out of mind, and out of order.
Imagine encasing each pair in a glass shoebox and mounting them on a wall to truly commemorate the 1,459 yards those shoes covered to go wire-to-wire as the league leader, finishing 292 yards clear of two-time rushing champ Derrick Henry of the Tennessee Titans. McCaffrey acknowledged that might be a cool display. He doesn’t have the time or ambition for it, though.
“With the career he’s had, at the end of the day, when he’s older, he’s going to remember stuff like that, and it will be another accolade to hang his hat on,” said Sam Darnold, the 49ers’ backup quarterback who played with McCaffrey on the Carolina Panthers in 2021 and 2022 until the 49ers acquired McCaffrey for a now-bargain package of four draft picks.
“Right now, (the rushing title) doesn’t mean anything to his current state of mind, but down the road, it’s going to mean a lot.”
McCaffrey has insisted repeatedly, beginning early in the season, that the NFL’s rushing title was a goal because it would reflect the 49ers’ team-wide success. He’s correct. The 49ers (12-4) are the NFC’s No. 1 seed, and he’s among their nine players selected to the Pro Bowl, a pack that doesn’t even include wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel.
“The rushing title is a really cool deal for me personally, because the run game is truly a testament to everybody on the field,” McCaffrey said last week. “It’s not just the O-line, but obviously it starts through them and they’re the base. But it’s the quarterback getting the right calls, having an explosive pass game to open up some of the run game stuff, tight ends who block with extreme effort, best fullback on the planet, and then receivers who take a lot of pride in blocking as well.
“That rushing title, that’s a team award, in my opinion, and one that I’m proud of, and I’m proud to be a part of a group like that,” McCaffrey added last Wednesday.
Left tackle Trent Williams and McCaffrey have swapped high praise about each other for over a year. Once the regular season was in the books Sunday night and McCaffrey stood atop the rushing list, Williams deflected all pride toward McCaffrey.
“Honestly I wouldn’t even say I personally take pride in it,” Williams said. “I’m just proud of him, seeing the way he applies himself week in, week out, day in, day out. To see the success reciprocate what he puts in, I’m just super proud of him, super happy for him. Heck of a player. He deserves it.”
McCaffrey is such an offensive catalyst that he totaled 2,023 yards from scrimmage (including 564 receiving). Up until the regular-season finale, he didn’t miss a start, not even because of an October oblique injury or other, subtle ailments.
He came out with a right calf strain in the New Year’s Eve win at Washington, but McCaffrey said it is a minor issue that won’t impact his availability entering his second straight postseason. He scored in all three playoff games last season, part of a 17-game scoring stretch in which he tied Lenny Moore’s NFL record.
“For him to get the rushing title, he’s obviously a great player, but we had some help in that, too,” right tackle Colton McKivitz said. “It’s great for him. The only thing that matters now is the Super Bowl.”
That is McCaffrey’s mindset. Individual success and mementos pale in comparison to championship aspirations.
And that is why he alluded Sunday night to his Carolina Panthers tenure, when his 2019 super stats (1,387 rushing yards; 1,005 receiving yards) didn’t translate into more than five wins.
McCaffrey lost in the wild-card playoffs as a 2017 rookie with Carolina, then didn’t return to the postseason until last year’s wins at Levi’s Stadium over the Seattle Seahawks and the Dallas Cowboys, which vaulted them toward NFC Championship Game heartbreak in Philadelphia.
“That’s what’s cool about this team. We don’t really care about anything else,” McKivitz added. “We’ve been there enough, one-win-away enough. It’s time we go win one (Super Bowl). Hopefully we get there.”
Ed McCaffrey won three championship rings as a wide receiver: one from the 49ers’ last championship team, in 1994, then two more on the Denver Broncos’ 1997 and ’98 squads. Talk about mementos to savor. But the second oldest of his four sons has rarely tried one on or gawked at that war chest.
Instead, Christian McCaffrey’s feet are on to the next step, on a path that could lead to earning a Super Bowl ring of his own.
