The San Francisco 49ers will face the Chicago Bears in Week 14. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every 49ers skill player who has the potential to make a fantasy impact during the game.
Looking for more lineup advice? Head over to our Week 14 Fantasy Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Brandon Allen, QB
Brock Purdy returned on Sunday night to face a strong Bills defense in near-impossible weather conditions. It wasn’t an ideal return spot, but he seemed to make it through the contest without a setback, and that puts him in line to start this week.
The 49ers are now two full games behind the Seahawks for the division, giving them little room for error — Allen isn’t going to see the field in these times of desperation unless the train really comes off the track.
Brock Purdy, QB
Brock Purdy has thrown multiple TD passes in just one of his past five games, and with the running game collapsing around him, this isn’t the offensive environment that we drafted him for. His mobility (5.1 yards per carry with four rushing scores) is an asset and keeps him on my radar, but I want to see what this offense looks like sans Christian McCaffrey and Jordan Mason before betting heavily on it.
I’m willing to be wrong in waiting on Purdy this week. If he shows up in a big way, I’ll gladly move him up and start him with confidence against the Rams next Thursday. Even with a desire to wait and see, Purdy is on the QB1 fringe due to bye weeks and general ineptitude at the position.
Christian McCaffrey, RB
Christian McCaffrey suffered a PCL injury in the second quarter on Sunday night and will miss at least the next six weeks, meaning his 2024 fantasy season is over before it ever really got started.
We have nine months to debate about how much this injury hurts his 2025 value — he’ll be an interesting case given the wide range of outcomes. It’s safe to say that he won’t be labeled the consensus 1.01 in redraft leagues the way he was this summer as he prepares for his age-29 season coming off of his fourth season in which he missed the majority of his games.
It’ll hurt your soul, but you can safely drop CMC in redraft leagues. Keeper managers need to track his recovery process; early reports are that he should be fine heading into the offseason, though you can never take anything for granted, especially at the running back position for a player with over 2,000 touches on his NFL résumé.
Isaac Guerendo, RB
The hot waiver add of the week could be a league winner if the 49ers elect to commit to him. Isaac Guerendo scored from 15 yards out last week and now assumes an elite role with the two backs ahead of him now on injured reserve.
Why can’t he be Jordan Mason? Mason was a top-12 running back three times in September and, before his injury, was one of two healthy backs (minimum 100 rush attempts) picking up 10+ yards on 15% of his carries this season (other: Jahmyr Gibbs). He’s a good player, but that production was certainly impacted by an advantageous situation, a situation that is now Guerendo’s.
The Bears allow the sixth-most red-zone drives per game (3.7) and the fourth-most yards per carry to opposing running backs. I don’t want to get too aggressive with my projection because we don’t have a sample of what this offense will look like, but 15 touches seem like a floor, and that’s plenty in a Kyle Shanahan offense.
Jordan Mason, RB
Jordan Mason was placed on injured reserve Monday afternoon, a move that corresponded with Christian McCaffrey’s designation. With the 49ers’ season very much on the brink, it’s more likely than not that his season is over — at the very least, his fantasy season is over, as he is now required to miss the final four weeks of the fantasy season.
The 2024 season has to be labeled as a success for the 25-year-old undrafted back out of Georgia Tech (5.2 yards per carry), as he showed himself capable of leading a backfield. Time will tell what the hierarchy of this backfield looks like moving forward, but for the remainder of 2024, this is the Isaac Guerendo show.
Deebo Samuel Sr., WR
The 49ers are running out of bodies and time. This season hasn’t gone anything like San Francisco was hoping, and if it wants to salvage anything down the season, it’s likely to come through the weapon known as Deebo Samuel Sr.
Earlier this season, we saw Samuel routinely earn 5-7 targets with 3-4 rushing attempts, a role that I think we could see return for the remainder of this season with Christan McCaffrey and Jordan Mason landing on injured reserve.
This is a tough matchup against the second-best red-zone defense in the league (40.9% touchdown rate when opponents reach their 20-yard line), but we know Kyle Shanahan excels in getting creative, something I expect to be on full display as this team tries to stay alive.
Samuel checks in as my WR25 for Week 14.
Jauan Jennings, WR
Jauan Jenning has a catch of 20+ yards in four straight games and has hauled in 78.3% of his targets over the past three games, trends that I like to continue as this team is again forced to adjust to life without Christian McCaffrey.
He’s pulled in a deep pass in three of his past four games, a strength that we should see on full display against the third-worst defense in terms of yards per deep pass. That’s good for the upside, but I’m more intrigued by the 25.5% red-zone target rate.
I still prefer Deebo Samuel Sr. over Jennings, though that’s more the result of me weighing the potential for him to get 3-5 opportunities on the ground. Jennings is my favorite to lead this team in targets this weekend, and that should be enough to land him in fantasy starting lineups.
Ricky Pearsall, WR
It’s not happening. The Brandon Aiyuk injury opened up the path to consistent playing time for Ricky Pearsall, but the rookie isn’t ready to be a fantasy asset just yet.
A snap share over 65% in consecutive games is encouraging, and the reps figure to prove fruitful with time. This roster might look different next year, and this experience will have me higher on Pearsall in August than you are. I like this player and his long-term fit, but with zero catches on 61 routes over the past three games, there’s no reason to try to get ahead of a breakout this season.
George Kittle, TE
Are the Bears an elite AFC team?
Not a trick question. They aren’t elite, nor are they an AFC team.
One team that isn’t on the short list of AFC Super Bowl contenders has held George Kittle out of the end zone this season — the Jets back in Week 1. I’m not at all sweating a down week for Kittle in a blizzard against the Bills on Sunday night. This is a high-usage player who cleared 14 PPR points in eight straight games before the ugly Week 13.
The Bears’ defense isn’t as good as they were early in the year, and with Christian McCaffrey’s role in the passing game vacated, I have zero reservations about labeling Kittle as a top-five player at the position.