Coming off a grind-it-out 20-9 win over the Panthers, Christian McCaffrey sounded less interested in box-score glory and more in the people around him. After piling up 24 carries for 89 yards and a touchdown plus seven catches for 53 yards, the San Francisco 49ers star called this “one of the best locker rooms I’ve ever been a part of,” praising the character that has held the team together through injuries and uneven quarterback play.
The numbers from Monday night underline just how central he is to that identity. According to Next Gen Stats, McCaffrey forced 11 missed tackles against Carolina, tied for the fifth-most by any player in a game this season.
Christian McCaffrey forced 11 missed tackles against the Panthers, tied for the 5th-most by any player in a game this season.
McCaffrey leads the NFL with 83 missed tackles forced entering the Week 13 slate, 10 away from his 2023 career-high of 93.#CARvsSF | #FTTB pic.twitter.com/xAABWqPxnm
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) November 25, 2025
He now leads the league with 83 missed tackles forced on the year, only 10 shy of the personal career high of 93 he set in 2023, and the carry chart from the Panthers game shows him cutting, bouncing, and reversing field all over the formation.
On a night when Brock Purdy threw three interceptions and the passing game sputtered, those broken tackles were the difference between a tense slog and a controlled win.
Time and again, McCaffrey turned first contact into a glancing blow, squeezing extra yards on inside zones and bouncing outside when Carolina overcommitted. The 49ers leaned on him to chew clock, flip field position, and keep their defense fresh.
That is why his looming milestone matters for more than trivia. San Francisco’s offense is built on staying ahead of the chains, and no one does more to make second-and-short possible than McCaffrey. If he keeps forcing misses at this rate, he will blow past his old mark and give the 49ers a true matchup nightmare heading into December.
George Kittle’s recent comments about the 49ers’ standard fit this picture perfectly. The tight end has emphasized that, regardless of injuries or who is in the huddle, San Francisco expects every player to maintain a championship-level execution. McCaffrey’s night against Carolina, combining relentless effort with elite production, is exactly the kind of performance that keeps that standard real and gives an 8-4 team confidence that its ceiling is still higher.
