MELBOURNE, Australia — More than halfway through the second quarter of Thursday’s 27-7 win over the Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco center Jake Brendel watched a drive shift in the 49ers’ favor and urged coach Kyle Shanahan to keep running the ball after rookie Kaelon Black ripped off gains of 9 and 5 yards. “After a few of those good chunk run plays hit, I’m looking right at Kyle, ‘Let’s go,'” Brendel said. “Let’s just keep going. Let’s keep dialing them up.”
Shanahan obliged, and the 49ers finished with 30 rushing attempts for a season-best 5.8 yards per carry, a mark that would have ranked second for the 2025 season behind a 5.9 effort against the Bears in Week 17. Shanahan said the aim was to create more balance in the backfield: “I thought they both ran really hard and really well. That was the goal for us coming into this, trying to balance it out more.”
Black carried 14 times compared with Christian McCaffrey’s 10, the first instance since the 2022 divisional playoff against the Dallas Cowboys that a 49er had more rushing attempts than McCaffrey in a game he started and finished. Black had one reception to McCaffrey’s four, leaving the pair with an even split of 15 touches each for 70 and 88 yards, respectively. Black’s extended role came by design and in part because McCaffrey dealt with cramps; the 24-year-old third-round pick had missed part of training camp with an adductor injury.
McCaffrey praised Black’s impact, calling him “a force” and saying it was “really cool to see him go out there and just do what he does.” The work on the ground was notable coming off a disappointing 2025 season: San Francisco averaged 3.8 yards per carry (30th in the NFL), 106.9 rushing yards per game (24th) and 2.04 yards before contact per carry (29th), marks that were the worst since Kyle Shanahan took over in 2017 — and that was with McCaffrey available for all 17 games.
New run-game coordinator Joe Graves brought varied play design, including motions that put fullback Kyle Juszczyk in lead-blocking roles. The 49ers motioned players on 59% of offensive plays, the highest rate under Shanahan, and averaged 6.3 yards per rush on 20 attempts that used some form of motion. Brendel said San Francisco spent the week preparing for five-man fronts but noted the Rams often presented four-down alignments and nickel packages, altering the look the offense faced.
