When Sunday night’s game between the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers started, three of the 49ers’ top five players — all stars — were out.
Shortly into the first quarter, left tackle Trent Williams, another one of their stars, left the game with an injury.
That meant only Christian McCaffrey of their Fab 5 was left on the field. Yet somehow the 49ers found a way to beat the Bears in a heavyweight battle of two of the NFC’s best teams. San Francisco won 42-38 behind the play of the offense and Brock Purdy, who is playing his way into making it the 49ers’ Super Six rather than Fab 5.
The victory has the 49ers one game away from the top seed in the NFC. If they beat the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday night, they lock up the top seed. If they win, they could have two playoff games at home and then play the Super Bowl in their home stadium.
Without their stars, that is simply amazing.
It’s truly been Kyle Shanahan’s best coaching job — and that’s saying something considering he almost won a Super Bowl with Jimmy Garoppolo.
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The 12-4 49ers have been without star defensive end Nick Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner for most of the season. Star tight end George Kittle has missed time this season and didn’t play Sunday.
That left it up to Shanahan to call his usual brilliant game, Purdy to continue to show he’s much more than just a game manager like some say, and McCaffrey to do his thing. In the end, they rolled on offense and held on for dear life on defense.
The 49ers offense could not be stopped. The problem is the defense couldn’t stop the Bears, which could be their undoing come playoff time. They just don’t rush the passer well enough.
For now, though, they are up to No. 5 in my Power Rankings with a chance to move up even higher by beating the Seahawks Saturday. If that happens, it’s truly an all-time great coaching job by Shanahan. It might be what propels him to his first Coach of the Year award. Let’s not forget that Purdy also missed eight games due to injury.
There are a lot of viable candidates to win the Coach of the Year award — Mike Vrabel, Liam Coen, Ben Johnson — but if this version of the 49ers ends up as the top seed in the NFC, Shanahan has to be the guy.
If they end up in the Super Bowl, it will be simply amazing. I don’t know if the defense is good enough, but the offense will be fun to watch as they make their way through the postseason — and that’s because of Shanahan.
Stars matter, but so far, somehow, the 49ers have made do without most of theirs.