CLEVELAND, OHIO - OCTOBER 15: Head coach Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers looks on during the second half against the Cleveland Browns at Cleveland Browns Stadium on October 15, 2023 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
The leading cause of injury in the NFL is playing football.
So you can see the problem the 49ers have with playing a game on Sunday.
After clinching the NFC’s No. 1 seed and a first-round playoff bye with last weekend’s win in Washington, the 49ers’ attention is rightly on that Divisional Round game they’ll host on the weekend of Jan. 19-20. That’s the next meaningful game they’ll play.
The goal is to ensure every player on the roster is healthy enough to play in that game.
But the Niners still need to play the Los Angeles Rams in the regular-season finale on Sunday in a game that neither team will care about.
It makes everything a bit tricky.
“It’s all risk,” Kyle Shanahan said Wednesday.
And it’s on Shanahan to manage that risk. He’s off to a good start. On Wednesday, he announced that Brock Purdy — dealing with a stinger in his left, non-throwing shoulder — will sit out the Week 18 game.
“Brock is the only guy I for sure know I don’t plan on playing,” Shanahan said.
But Purdy should only be the start of the rest parade.
The 49ers are in a situation they can’t win on Sunday. Anyone who plays professional tackle football — even a half-speed game — is putting their health on the line. This isn’t a jog around the park — no one feels better after playing an NFL game.
And if you can’t win, don’t play.
So as much as Shanahan tried to convince the media that it’s not beneficial for “anybody to take two weeks off” on Wednesday, the Niners have no good reason to risk the health of any of their top players on Sunday.
Now, a forfeit is out of the question. Niners ownership would never turn down the gate revenue for a game — they have a soccer team to run.
So, the Niners coaching staff must be creative in keeping essential players sidelined. NFL teams only have seven inactive spots and must put 45 non-specialist players in uniform.
The guys already dealing with injuries — Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, Arik Armstead, Ambry Thomas, Ji’Ayir Brown, Ross Dwelley, and Tashaun Gipson — will be sidelined for the contest. That’s all seven inactives, right there, if they don’t cut Dwelley or put him on injured reserve.
But if all those spots are taken, key players like Trent Williams, Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Fred Warner, and Nick Bosa still shouldn’t take a snap on Sunday — even if they’re on the sideline, in uniform.
I don’t see the downside of resting them.
I can, however, see the downside of them being on a football field.
And don’t start on the “rust” argument. Shanahan had to lend it credence on Wednesday, but that was him going through the motions amid a week of going through the motions.
Rust… Come on now, who do you think we’re talking about here?
Rust is an easy go-to excuse when a team loses after being rested. It’s a nonsense catch-all.
I just watched the best college football teams in the country play two brilliant playoff semifinal games on Monday. Those teams hadn’t played a game in a month.
Where was their rust?
(Ok, it might have been on special teams, but that’s a worthy sacrifice.)
Was Washington quarterback Michael Penix ripping the ball all over the field because he had stayed “in a groove” or because he was something close to fully healthy for the first time since mid-October?
If college teams can manage long layoffs, professionals can, too.
After all, these folks are paid a lot because they know how to prepare for and play the game — mentally and physically.
Allow them to be at their best in the latter, and they will likely show you their best on the field.
As for keeping sharp — the coaches are paid, too.
If Shanahan cannot find a way to keep his players in sync with just practice, then he’s not a very good coach.
Shanahan has proven to be anything but that. If anyone in the league deserves the benefit of the doubt, it’s the guy who would, if given the power, eliminate the preseason.
“Rusty isn’t always about the game,” Shanahan said. “Rusty is about how you treat the week.”
If the 49ers come out for their home playoff game in three weeks and look like they forgot how to play football, it won’t be because they did. It will be because the other team is beating them, fair and square.
That’ll be impressive because the 49ers should be as well-rested and healthy as a football team can be after four-plus months of play.
And those are the most significant advantages a team can have in the playoffs. The Niners can’t pass it up.
Originally published at Dieter Kurtenbach