The San Francisco 49ers will not be pushing Christian McCaffrey to play on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings after the star forward missed last night’s MNF win over the New York Jets.

McCaffrey’s absence against the Jets due to a calf and Achilles injury came as a surprise. Before the game, there were many whispers from the 49ers’ training camp that he would be fit.

It will now be a race against time to see if he can return at the weekend, although the artificial turf in Minneapolis is also an option.

Coach Kyle Shanahan said, “I’ll ask the player how he feels.

“If they feel good and are ready to go, then they are ready to go. If they say I feel good on grass but not on turf, that is usually a way of saying you don’t actually feel that good.

“We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. We’ll see the next day. And we’ll see how he feels on Sunday.”

Of his absence last night, Shanahan added: “It was on and off throughout the week.

“He was able to practice all week, but it still bothered him a little bit. Sometimes it went away. Sometimes it came back. Today it bothered him a little too much, which made him feel uncomfortable.

“We found out he didn’t play today. And we don’t know how he’s going to feel tomorrow or the day after. I thought he played all week until today.”

Victory Slate AND the #SCtop10 chain 🔥🔥 photo.twitter.com/cuc0antuvM

— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) September 10, 2024

Beautiful Mason

The 49ers may be a little more confident about McCaffrey’s status given the performance of backup Jordan Mason in the 32-19 win over the Jets.

Mason carried the ball 28 times for 147 yards and scored a touchdown as the Niners dominated on the ground.

Shanahan was very pleased with the impact of the 25-year-old.

“I thought he runs like he always does,” Shanahan said. “When you give him the ball, he breaks tackles, usually gets more than we block. When we had the good lanes, he always hit them, and we got a lot of them. But JP was great today.”