Christian McCaffrey is expected to spend six weeks on the sidelines with a posterior cruciate ligament injury, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has announced.
McCaffrey, who will not undergo surgery, hobbled off injured in Sunday’s 35-10 defeat at the Buffalo Bills after only recently making his long-awaited return from an Achilles problem that had kept him out for three months.
There were fears that the running back had suffered yet another serious injury that would keep him out of action for another lengthy period of time.
Yet while his latest fitness problem is not a major one, McCaffrey’s season is now all but over as he prepares to spend over a month recovering.
According to Shanahan, via NFL insider Ian Rapoport, running back has been placed on injured reserve after damaging his PCL – a ligament in the knee that connects the upper and lower leg bones.
Shanahan and the Niners are enduring a nightmare season after making it to the Super Bowl in 2023, with a number of injuries to key players leaving them depleted for the majority of the campaign.
Christian McCaffrey is expected to spend six weeks on the sidelines with a PCL injury
With a 5-7 record, they appear destined to miss out on the postseason while rooted to the bottom of the NFC West.
If they do fail to make the playoffs as expected, San Francisco’s final game of the season will come in just under five weeks’ time against the Arizona Cardinals on January 5, which is likely to be too early for McCaffrey.
The 28-year-old took a handoff early in the second quarter in the cold and wintry conditions at Highmark Stadium when he sustained the injury to his knee. He then slid on the snowy surface and was later piled on by multiple Bills players.
McCaffrey was able to walk off the field under his own power and then went with medical staff into the blue tent, then to the locker room. He did not return to the game.
In the preseason, the Niners star suffered a calf and Achilles injury that kept him out throughout the start of the campaign.
He had been placed on injured reserve after Week 2 and visited a specialist in Germany as he dealt with bilateral Achilles tendonitis.
McCaffrey was out until November 9 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 10.
He only played in three games since returning to the team – racking up 149 yards coming into this week’s contest.
