The 49ers tried to extend Christian McCaffrey’s touchdown streak, but the running back couldn’t get in the end zone on Sunday.
McCaffrey got five chances to score on the 49ers’ final possession of the fourth quarter in Jacksonville as the 49ers worked to get him a touchdown for an NFL-record 18th straight game, but the Jaguars defense held firm. The 49ers still won 34-3, so it was easy for McCaffrey to joke about his failure to get on the scoreboard after the game.
“Yeah, I suck,” McCaffrey said, via 49ersWebzone.com. “Everyone else on the team scored except for me.”
McCaffrey said it meant “a lot to me for them to keep me in at the end of the game there and try to give me that record” and head coach Kyle Shanahan said he explained to Jaguars coach Doug Pederson why they were trying to score at that point in a blowout. He said Pederson was aware of the record and wasn’t offended by the bid.
“Eighteen games in a row is a big record, so if we had a chance to do that, I was going to try to do it for him,” Shanahan said. “And it’s a little nerve-wracking. The last thing I want to do is get him hurt. . . . I wish we could have done it for him, but I think that was a pretty big accomplishment just to do it for 17 games straight.”
Seventeen straight games with a touchdown is impressive, but the 49ers needed a win any way they could get one after three straight losses. They accomplished this mission and McCaffrey will get back at it next week.
