SANTA CLARA – Christian McCaffrey is clearly not himself right now.

Since returning from bilateral Achilles tendonitis, he has averaged just 3.7 yards per carry – down from 5.4 yards per carry last season.

Why isn’t he playing that well?

Here’s what run game coordinator Chris Foerster said about McCaffrey this week courtesy of the 49ers PR department.

Q: What do you think RB Christian McCaffrey’s chemistry is like in his second game back? He won’t be back until two. Do you feel he is a Christian?

FOERSTER: “It’s getting better every week. Christian, I’m sure he admits it himself, doesn’t feel like he’s back in the swing of things. And I’m not saying he isn’t. As I say every week, it’s very difficult for me to talk negatively about Christian. He’s great. That’s why he takes reps every week. That’s why he has to be out there. He loves seeing it. He’s a grinder. He has to be there working every day. As he gets that feeling, he gets better and better. That is also encouraging. I see the glass half full as to how this case will proceed with him.

Question: Is that a matter of timing with Christian?

FOERSTER: “It’s vision. It’s more vision. It doesn’t matter how many times you do it, it’s just like anything else. We talk about how guys have to practice, any sport, you have to practice, you have to go out and practice. And to some extent they practice at full speed. Some sports that have longer seasons do not train hard. But the point is that you don’t hit. How many full speed reps do you get when executing certain plays? And even though you’ve seen it in previous years, you come back faster and you go faster, but you still have to go out and do it. You still have to go outside to see it. You still have to get out at live pace. You still have to get hit and tackled and get up and go back and see it and the game plays out differently. So it’s just a matter of watching it a few more times, I guess, for him.

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