Christian McCaffrey had an opportunity to make NFL history Sunday in the 49ers' dominant Week 10 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
But those efforts fell short at EverBank Stadium. Literally, just a few yards short.
The All-Pro running back finished Sunday's game without a touchdown for the first time since Week 13 of last season, failing to extend his touchdown streak to an NFL-record 18 games. Had he found the end zone in northern Florida, he would have become the first player in league history to score a scrimmage touchdown in 18 consecutive contests.
After the game, a 34-3 blowout victory, McCaffrey had a hilarious self-evaluation of his performance and inability to keep the streak alive.
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"I suck," he joked, as the room filled with laughter. "Everyone else on the team scored except for me."
In San Francisco's second-to-last drive of the game, with McCaffrey scoreless and holding a comfortable 31-point lead, coach Kyle Shanahan kept the star running back in the game to give him a chance to break the record.
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From first-and-goal to fourth-and-goal, McCaffrey was targeted every single time by backup quarterback Sam Darnold, but an incomplete pass on the final attempt put those hopes to rest.
McCaffrey -- and the rest of the 49ers -- were bummed he couldn't get the record, but the most important goal of the day was achieved.
"Nah, it means a lot to me for them to keep me in at the end of the game there and try to get me that record," McCaffrey said. "But hey, I'll take a huge win."
After the game, Shanahan explained his decision to keep McCaffrey in the game.
"I mean, 18 games in a row is a big record, so if we had a chance to do it, I was going to do it for him," he said. "It's all nerve-racking; the last thing I want to do is get him hurt. But it was big time for Elijah [Mitchell] to run the ball like that to get us down there. Brock [Purdy] and Ronnie [Bell] made a huge third down that gave us a chance.
"Once we got close, we told him to stay loose because we were going to try. We got close, wish we could have done it for him, but it's a pretty big accomplishment to do it for 17 games straight."
All good things must come to an end, it seems. But for the 49ers' sake, winning hopefully isn't one of them.
