After this long, strange summer, the vibes are great for the 49ers in Week 1

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Remember these guys? It wasn’t that long ago that the San Francisco 49ers looked like this, played like this, stomped around on national television like this, and seemed primed for another Super Bowl run like this.

But hey, everyone needed a reminder. After this long, anxious summer of contract wrangling, near-trading, near-trading, and missing stars, the 49ers had to get back on the field and take on the New York Jets to open the regular season.

The Result: Even after Christian McCaffrey unexpectedly left the game late with a calf injury, the 49ers pulled out a crushing, efficient 32-19 victory Monday night at Levi’s Stadium that was a message to the rest of the league and outside critics, and a clear call to themselves. The 49ers have had a strange summer. Losing McCaffrey temporarily was a shock. But they’re still pretty good. They took the Kansas City Chiefs to overtime in the Super Bowl in February and led to the Chiefs’ winning touchdown.

The 49ers have a ton of stars. They’re tough and explosive. They’re elite. They can do things like, say, put up 180 rushing yards on a really good Jets defense, like they did on Monday. The 49ers can do a lot of things that almost nobody else can. Remember that?

“It just means a lot to have the guys back together, to have the band back together,” Jauan Jennings said. “And we had a great concert tonight.”

Trent Williams is introduced to the crowd before the game against the New York Jets at Levi’s Stadium. (Darren Yamashita / Imagn Images)

Brandon Aiyuk and Trent Williams were back in action after resolving their contract disputes over the past week or so. Ricky Pearsall was smiling on the sideline in his sweatpants, less than a week after being shot during an attempted robbery. And if there were any doubts about the focus of this team after all this, they were gone by the time the 49ers gathered for practice early last week.

What could have torn the 49ers apart only made them happier to be back together.

“I walked in and I was like, ‘Man, everybody’s, like, laser-focused, everybody’s flying around,'” Williams said Monday night, describing the mood on the team when he returned early last week. “There’s not a lot of joking around. We’ve got a lot of new players in the locker room that are already playing at (the level) that we expect here. I looked at all the young guys in the draft. I know we obviously had a good roster last year. I didn’t think they could improve on it. But in my opinion, we’ve improved.”

Time will tell, but I don’t think the 49ers are feeling any false euphoria here. They’re feeling a little Real euphoria after so much could have been lost this summer. While Kyle Shanahan is no dreamy coach, he has had to keep a close eye on the team’s mood, especially the last few weeks. And Shanahan said during a group meeting this past weekend that he knew the team was ready for this just by sensing the energy and attitude during practice last week.

“When Kyle said that, it confirmed everything I was feeling,” Kyle Juszczyk said.

The most impressive thing, of course, was doing it without McCaffrey, last year’s NFL Offensive Player of the Year. But Shanahan adapted by playing as a backup to Jordan Mason’s strengths. The passes to McCaffrey were out. The downhill runs from Mason were in. And repeated on Mason’s way to 28 carries for 147 yards and a TD.

“I told Christian the only good thing that came out of him not playing was our playbook got a little bit smaller,” George Kittle said. “I’m always a fan of the playbook getting smaller. Kyle can make all these great plays; the cool thing about Christian is he can do all these things that nobody else in the world can do. But we just ran the simplest outside zone all day long. Whether it was a weakside run to Trent or Colton (McKivitz), or we had two tight ends just running outside zone. It worked out really, really well.”

It wasn’t all perfect Monday, as Shanahan was quick to point out. Without McCaffrey, the 49ers offense had to find a rhythm, with Mason getting his first start at running back. But once they got going, after Fred Warner’s forced fumble set up the first of six Jake Moody field goals, the 49ers just kept going.

All work, no happiness. photo.twitter.com/zGORAUg0Np

— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) September 10, 2024

They did it the pure Shanahan Way, hitting their first long touchdown drive by running 10 times on a 12-play drive to take their first lead, 13-7. They did it defensively by shutting down the Jets’ running game and completely limiting Aaron Rodgers. They did it by avoiding turnovers. They did it with Brock Purdy making all the necessary throws and none of the stupid ones.

And they did it in a way that they know they can repeat. Because this was a repeat of about 20 or 30 other times they’ve won games this way in the last five years. There’s no guarantee that the 49ers can keep doing this, or that they’ll eventually win a Super Bowl. They could get injured. They could falter in the middle or, again, at the end.

But for now, they’re still tough. They’re still physical. They still have a quarterback who does the right things. They still have stars all over the roster. They still listen to each other. They’re still bonded together. And in a week or two, they’ll have McCaffrey back.

“We have great leaders in this locker room,” Williams said. “And we have people who follow the leadership. We have leaders who repeat what the coaches preach. That’s what’s allowed our locker room to stay focused.”

But wait a minute: Did the 49ers almost trade Aiyuk right before he finally agreed to the four-year, $120 million deal that brought him back late last month? Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer reported Sunday that the 49ers had decided to trade Aiyuk to Pittsburgh before he went to Shanahan’s office and said he would accept the 49ers’ latest offer. And that it took Shanahan’s interruption of the 49ers’ trade preparations to halt the process and finalize Aiyuk’s contract.

Is that true, Kyle?

“I mean, most of it, yeah,” Shanahan said Monday.

Whew. Trading Aiyuk after those weird negotiations wouldn’t have been a great way to start the regular season. I don’t think even the 49ers’ tight-fisted locker room could have ignored that. But then things got done. The 49ers, somehow, put the pieces back in place. And they turned Week 1 into a celebration and, they surely believe, a sign of things to come.

(Top photo of Brandon Aiyuk: Darren Yamashita / Imagn Images)