San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey is mere days removed from winning the NFL Offensive Player of the Year award after an absolutely brilliant rookie season.
Unfortunately, for McCaffrey the 49ers things did not start out swimmingly to open Super Bowl LVIII against the Kansas City Chiefs.
San Francisco was driving down the field to open the game, picking up first down after first down. That’s when McCaffrey lost a fumble at the Chiefs’ 27-yard-line. It was ugly. Really, really ugly.
Leo Chenal and Mike Pennel converged to force the fumble. Edge rusher George Karlaftis then recovered the fumble for the first takeaway of Super Bowl LVIII.
Christian McCaffrey stats (2023): 1,459 rushing yards, 564 receiving yards, 2,023 total yards, 21 TD
As for McCaffrey, he lost just two fumbles during the regular season.
The good news for San Francisco? Its defense came up and forced a Chiefs three-and-out after the turnover. Even then, the 49ers can’t afford to make mistakes and blow opportunities against the defending Super Bowl champs. It’s that simple.
Related: Live Super Bowl LVIII blog