49ers return from late bye week refreshed and ready for playoff push

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers waited three months to get their long-awaited bye week and took advantage of the time off late in the season.

Colton McKivitz spent time wine tasting in Napa. Christian McCaffrey rested up and spent time with his newborn daughter. Trent Williams went back home to Houston.

Most importantly, everyone got a chance for a mental and physical break before the Niners (9-4) prepare to make a late-season playoff push over the next four weeks.

“It was fun to kind of just watch football Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, just from a fan perspective," coach Kyle Shanahan said Wednesday. "It was different having a bye this late. I don’t know if I’d ever ask for that or wish upon it, but it was kind of nice. Usually, you have your bye week early on and I annoy the hell out of my family because I’m like, ‘No, we have to do this for lunch, we have to do this right now because when this is over I’m going like 11, 10 weeks straight.’ So, it was a little different having it in December where it was almost a little more relaxing because you’ve made so much of the season already and excited to get back now for the best time of the year in football.”

The Niners have done well in recent years after the bye week, winning their first game back in three straight seasons and five out of the last six. They play their first game back at home on Sunday against Tennessee (2-11) as they try to keep pace with Seattle (10-3) and the Los Angeles Rams (10-3) in the tough NFC West.

San Francisco plays three of its final four games at home. The Niners are in prime position to get back to the playoffs after missing it last season and are still in the running for a possible division title or even No. 1 seed if they get some help down the stretch.

While playing 13 straight weeks to start the season was grueling, they now get the benefit.

“When you look at the bye early in the year, you’re kind of dreading it. You got to go 13 straight or whatever it is,” McCaffrey said. “But now that it’s done and it’s happened at the end of the year and getting some guys back and getting healthy again, it’s a blessing in disguise.”

The 49ers will get kicker Eddy Pineiro back this week after he missed two games with a right hamstring injury but could still be without other key players, with linebacker Tatum Bethune and defensive end Sam Okuayinonu still sidelined by ankle injuries and linebacker Nick Martin in concussion protocol.

Fullback Kyle Juszczyk was able to practice on a limited basis after injuring his ribs before the bye week and defensive lineman Yetur Gross-Matos will have his practice window opened and could return from a hamstring injury that has sidelined him since Week 5.

Linebacker Eric Kendricks, who was recently signed to the practice squad, remains slowed by a calf injury.

Shanahan wasn't totally surprised about the Indianapolis Colts signing 44-year-old quarterback Philip Rivers nearly five years after he last played an NFL game.

Shanahan nearly did the same in the 2022 season. Shanahan called Rivers after Jimmy Garoppolo broke his foot in December of that season about the possibility of coming out of retirement and joining the Niners.

The 49ers didn't a need a starter right away because they wanted to see what rookie Brock Purdy could do, but had Rivers watch installations to get familiar with the system if Purdy ever got hurt.

Purdy helped lead San Francisco to the NFC title game before injuring his elbow in a loss to Philadelphia. The Niners were ready to give Rivers a chance had they beaten the Eagles that game and advanced to the Super Bowl.

"I would say he’s one of the few who would have a chance to do this,” Shanahan said about Rivers.

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