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As major injuries started to pile up and star players were lost for the season, the 49ers’ elder statesmen began to grumble about the team’s late bye week.
But after surviving a 13-week grind and entering their bye with three consecutive wins, coach Kyle Shanahan and his players expressed a collective sigh of relief. Now, a four-game stretch run has arrived, and it begins with the most winnable matchup on the schedule, a meeting with the 2-11 Tennessee Titans.
The 49ers welcome the Titans to Levi’s Stadium on Sunday and have the chance to reach a double-digit win total for the fifth time in Shanahan’s nine-year tenure. Tennessee won its last game, a 31-29 victory over the Browns, but it was hardly a sign that the team is surging under interim coach Mike McCoy.
What’s in store for a rested 49ers team? Here are our predictions.
Offensive star of the game
Kawakami: Christian McCaffrey. Given the much tougher matchups ahead, McCaffrey’s shot at an unprecedented second 1,000-1,000 season, might rest on popping some explosive plays and piling up 150 or more total yards in this one. Hey, guess what: The Titans’ defense isn’t exactly built to keep that from happening.
Lombardi: Ricky Pearsall. He has only five catches for 20 yards in three games since returning from a knee injury. Prior to that absence, Pearsall was among the league leaders in yards per route run — delivering the space-making presence the 49ers need at receiver to take their offense to the next level. Tennessee’s 27th-ranked defense is ripe for Pearsall’s picking.
Defensive star of the game
Kawakami: Alfred Collins. Titans’ rookie quarterback Cam Ward doesn’t throw many interceptions, but he does get sacked. And sacked and sacked (an NFL-most 49 times so far this season). After all the praise he’s received from George Kittle and other team stalwarts, this might be the week that Collins gets his first NFL sack.
Lombardi: Clelin Ferrell. Pick any 49ers defensive lineman. They should have sack opportunities in this game — if they stop the run. That actually was an issue for the Cleveland Browns’ defense last week. Titans running back Tony Pollard went off for 161 yards on 25 carries. The 49ers rank No. 7 in EPA against the run, but they have been vulnerable at times. It’s on Ferrell and Co. to stop it so that they earn pass-rushing opportunities against Ward.
The 49ers’ potential X-factor
Kawakami: Shanahan teams coming out of the bye week. Some of the 49ers’ snappiest performances in this era have come the week after byes — remember 34-3 over Jacksonville in 2023 and 31-3 over Cleveland in 2019? It shouldn’t matter much against this week’s woeful opponent, but it makes sense that a physical team like the 49ers would be especially forceful after getting some rest down the back stretch of a season.
Lombardi: Extra rest. The 49ers missed a season-high 15 tackles in their most recent game at Cleveland. Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said that fatigue is directly correlated with missed tackles and that he expects the 49ers to be much crisper in this regard coming off their bye week.
The key stat to track
Kawakami: Brian Robinson Jr. fourth-quarter carries. Though I said McCaffrey should rack up well over 100 total yards, he probably can do that in the first three quarters then relax on the sidelines while letting Robinson finish it out. If McCaffrey is needed in the final period, that’d be a sign that this game was a little more competitive than it should’ve been.
Lombardi: McCaffrey yardage. He needs 151 rushing yards and 194 receiving yards to reach 1,000 yards in both categories. McCaffrey won’t knock out both of those in one game, but he might eclipse a grand in one of the categories. And then he’d be on the doorstep of history.
Game prediction
Kawakami: 49ers 30, Titans 13. They’re rested, they’ve got most of their main offensive stars back, they’re facing one of the worst teams in the league — this should fall into 49ers-pick-a-score territory unless there’s a major letdown. I don’t think there’ll be a letdown.
Lombardi: 49ers 31, Titans 13. A defeat here would be possibly the worst loss of the Shanahan era for the 49ers. I don’t expect them to lose. This should be a workmanlike victory ahead of a tremendously compelling three-game stretch to close the regular season — with everything still in front of the 49ers.
