The San Francisco 49ers were able to pick up another dominant victory in Week 14, defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 35-7 for their sixth consecutive victory. But, the win didn’t come without a cost as San Francisco was hit again by the injury bug.
Wide receiver Deebo Samuel will be heading to the sidelines for a few weeks after suffering a lower leg injury in the game. Luckily there were no tears or broken bones as he was diagnosed with a sprained MCL and ankle sprain. The team dodged another bullet as none of the injuries sustained are expected to be season-ending.
According to Adam Schefter, head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters that he believes that Samuel will return from his injuries in about three weeks. That could give him enough time to return for the season finale against the Arizona Cardinals on January 8th. If not for that game, Samuel should be back for Super Wild Card Weekend unless something unexpected happens and the 49ers can overtake the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings in the NFC standings and get a bye week.
Samuel is the third significant injury that the offense has suffered in as many weeks. In Week 12 against the New Orleans Saints, running back Elijah Mitchell injured his knee for the second time this season and was placed on IR. Last week, starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo broke his foot and could be lost for the season.
Despite those losses, San Francisco has been unstoppable. They are decimating teams on the back of arguably the best defense in the NFL and an offense that has found success no matter who is in the lineup.
Thursday night’s game against the Seattle Seahawks will go a long way in determining the NFC West. If the 49ers win the game, they will clinch the division as they will have a three-game lead with three games remaining while owning the head-to-head tiebreaker with a season sweep over Seattle.
That would be ideal, as Shanahan could then make some adjustments to ensure that his team is as healthy as possible during the last few weeks of the season heading into the playoffs. Expect the team to exhibit caution with Samuel as getting him healthy for the postseason is the No. 1 goal.
