The San Francisco 49ers are back where they have been quite often recently: the NFC championship. The team has played in this game 18 times in NFL history, with an appearance in three of the last four games. One of the biggest reasons the 49ers are once again knocking on the door of a Super Bowl appearance is because of the play of running back Christian McCaffrey.
He played in the NFC Championship Game last year in the 31-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, but he has never made it further than that in a season.
Christian McCaffrey’s Carolina Panthers Days
McCaffrey was a star running back at Stanford where he finished second in the Heisman Trophy race to Derrick Henry in 2015. He is the son of former Denver Broncos wide receiver Ed McCaffrey, and he was taken by the Carolina Panthers with the No. 8 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.
He was the second running back taken in that draft, with Leonard Fournette going fourth to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
In his rookie season, he was most effective when catching the ball out of the backfield. He finished the year with 80 catches for 651 yards and five touchdowns compared to 435 rushing yards and two more scores.
The Panthers were the No. 5 seed in the NFC playoffs that year, losing to his current team, the San Francisco 49ers, 31-26.
It was the next season when he began to take off as he set a franchise record with 1,965 scrimmage yards and 13 offensive touchdowns. He followed that up with an even better season in 2019 where he rushed for 1,387 yards with another 1,005 receiving yards.
While he had a lot of individual success in Carolina, the team was never able to sustain much success. In the final two years, he had to battle a lot of injuries and losses, and the team decided in the middle of the year to trade him to San Francisco.
New Era in San Francisco Could Have McCaffrey in Store for Potential Super Bowl
He was acquired on Oct. 20, 2022, and by the end of his second game in San Francisco, he showed what he could become in this offense.
In a game against the Los Angeles Rams, he became the first 49ers running back to ever run, pass, and catch a touchdown in the same game. He was only the fourth player to accomplish that feat since the AFL-NFL merger.
During the 49ers playoff run last year, he scored a rushing touchdown in all three of the playoff games. In the loss to the Eagles last season, McCaffrey had to temporarily play the quarterback position as all of the quarterbacks were injured in the game.
This past season, he led the NFL in rushing yards (1,459) while also leading in offensive yards (2,023 yards) and total touchdowns (21).
In the playoff win last week against the Green Bay Packers, he had 98 rushing yards and two total touchdowns.
Christian’s dad Ed won a Super Bowl with the Broncos in 1997, and if the 49ers can get the job done on Sunday, Christian will be one game away from joining him as a Super Bowl champion.
KEEP READING: How Many Super Bowls Have 49ers Won?
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