It appeared that San Francisco 49ers superstar Christian McCaffrey was playing in discomfort at the end of Week 17's win over the Chicago Bears.

Already without Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Ricky Pearsall and the majority of their linebacker corpse, the 49ers saw All-Pro tight end George Kittle go down with a torn achilles during the second quarter of their wild-card playoff win over the Eagles.

The 49ers head to top-seeded Seattle next weekend for an NFC divisional playoff game. The NFC West rivals split the season series.

McCaffrey was a late addition to the injury report when the 49ers on Saturday downgraded him to questionable with a back injury. That back injury wasn't enough to hold McCaffrey out of San Francisco's first game after the bye week. He was not among their list of inactive players for Sunday's matchup, indicating he's good to suit up.

After being limited to just four games last season due to multiple injuries, McCaffrey has returned to top form in 2025. He’s played in all 16 games for the Niners this term, producing 303 carries for 1,179 yards and 10 touchdowns. He’s also caught 96 passes for 890 yards and seven receiving TDs.

A team that's lost star players from the start of the 2025 season just watched their leader and heartbeat go down. Now what?