Christian McCaffrey's Historic Game Celebrated by NFL Twitter in 49ers' Win over Rams
The San Francisco 49ers gave up plenty to land Christian McCaffrey when they traded four draft picks to the Carolina Panthers.
They did it for performances like Sunday's.
McCaffrey was brilliant while helping lead his 49ers to a 31-14 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in Sunday's showdown. San Francisco snapped a two-game losing streak, improved to 4-4 overall and now has the tiebreaker over its NFC West rival after sweeping the season series.
The Stanford product finished with 94 rushing yards, 55 receiving yards and three total touchdowns, one of which came on a 34-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk on a trick play in the second quarter.
He even made history as the first player since 2005 to catch, run and throw a touchdown in the same game, which drew plenty of reaction on social media:
While McCaffrey has dealt with injuries in his career, he looked explosive as a runner and used his speed to get to the edge on the second level multiple times. His ability to work as a receiver out of the backfield also helped make up for the absence of Deebo Samuel, who was sidelined with a hamstring injury.
McCaffrey impacted the game in a number of ways, but he was at his best in the third quarter with a leaping go-ahead touchdown in the corner of the end zone. It would have been an incredible play even if he was a wide receiver, and it put the visitors ahead for good.
It wasn't difficult to envision the 49ers offense torching opponents with a healthy Samuel and McCaffrey on the field at the same time, as the running back put the team on his back against Los Angeles.
Next up is the bye week, so Samuel will have some extra time to get healthy before a matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers. The result may be one of the scariest one-two punches in the entire NFL.
