SANTA CLARA – Christian McCaffrey is the NFC’s offensive player of the week, a prize that George Kittle sought for his 49ers teammate prior to Sunday’s 20-10 win over Atlanta.
McCaffrey churned out 201 scrimmage yards, his first 200-yard output since joining the 49ers three years ago.
He ran 24 times for a season-high 129 yards and two touchdowns while also leading the 49ers’ receivers with seven catches for 72 yards.
Although Kittle went without a catch for the first time in his 127 career games, he mentioned after Sunday’s game how his goal was to deliver McCaffrey his third player-of-the-week honor; the others came in Week 8 in 2022 and Week 4 in 2023.
“My goal this week was CMC Player of the Week,” Kittle said postgame. “And if I called that, it might be the best guess of all time. … That was my goal because Atlanta has a really good defense.”
It was McCaffrey’s 11th career game with multiple rushing touchdowns, the last coming on Thanksgiving 2023 at Seattle, and the fourth time he has topped 200 yards from scrimmage in his career (the first three were with Carolina before being traded to the 49ers in 2022).
Frank Gore was the last 49er to have two touchdowns and 200 scrimmage yards, way back in September 2009.
McCaffrey now has 465 rushing yards and 516 receiving yards on the season, joining Marshall Faulk (2000) as the only players to surpass 450 yards in both areas in the first seven weeks of any season.
Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young vouched for McCaffrey’s place atop the NFL’s 2025 kingdom.
“Christian is the back for today because he can line up in the slot, he can find holes in the defense in the pass game that we did not ever think about,” Young said on KNBR 680-AM. “Marshall, that (St. Louis Rams) offense was probably the offense most like offenses today, in The Greatest Show on Turf. In that, Marshall was deployed similarly.
“I refuse to do the barroom fights of Roger (Craig) vs. Marshall vs. Christian,” Young added. “I appreciate everybody in their excellence and amazing things they can do. For the game today, Christian is the perfect back. He can line up behind the quarterback under center and take it off tackle and make big yards. Then everything else he can do. … Christian McCaffrey is the ultimate weapon in 2025 and I would want no one else right now.”
Also honored this week were Green Bay Packers linebacker Micah Parsons (defense) and Carolina Panthers punter Sam Martin (special teams).