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Why would the 49ers miss Brandon Aiyuk in the stretch run of this season when he never really was with them?
They wouldn’t. They won’t. They sure didn’t on Sunday, when receivers Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings made a handful of big plays to help the 49ers rumble past the Titans in a 37-24 victory at Levi’s Stadium.
That came a day after the 49ers officially ended Aiyuk’s season and essentially ended his tenure with the team by putting him on the Reserve/Left Squad list. And that came just a year and a half after he signed a four-year, $120-million extension and about 14 months after he tore multiple ligaments in his knee — then never practiced or suited up for the 49ers again and reportedly missed several rehabilitation sessions and mandatory check-ins.
On Sunday, it felt like addition by subtracting the distraction.
The verbal response:
“It’s been pretty simple for me — I haven’t seen him in a month,” Kyle Shanahan said of Aiyuk after the game. “Same with our team.
“So it hasn’t been an issue with our team at all. Kinda been plugging away and no big deal. It’s just something we’ve been used to for a while.”
The practical response:
Brock Purdy and the 49ers’ passing attack dominated this game — Purdy completed 23 of his 30 attempts for 295 yards and 3 touchdowns, producing a 140.3 rating largely by finding Pearsall (6 receptions for 96 yards) and Jennings (2 TD catches) in all the big moments.
The Titans (now 2-12), of course, are a terrible team, and the 49ers had a few too many defensive lapses to make them feel overly comfortable heading into a tough closing sprint against Indianapolis, Chicago, and Seattle.
If the 49ers are going to make noise in the postseason, they know their offense will have to take control of games just like it did Sunday. But the 49ers also believe they have everything it takes to do that — even against the better teams, and even without Aiyuk.
Maybe especially without Aiyuk.
Brock Purdy completed passes to seven different receivers on Sunday. | Source: Amber Pietz/The Standard
“Whatever John (Lynch) and Kyle said,” Kittle said when I asked what he thought of Saturday’s move. “I’ll punt that question. It is what it is. … I’ll just play ball with the guys who are here.”
The victory lifted the 49ers to 10-4 — one more victory likely will put them into the playoffs, a fairly amazing feat by itself considering the early-season losses of Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, the absence of Purdy for eight games, and, by the way, absolutely nothing from Aiyuk.
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The 49ers’ leaders, though, are stressing that they dealt with all of these things months ago. And they’ve fought through those issues and more to get to this point — as healthy now as they’re ever going to be until next season, and now on a four-game winning streak as the stakes get higher and higher.
So the Aiyuk news wasn’t really news. He’s gone. He’s been gone.
“I’ve been hoping he would come back all year, but (at) not one point was I really planning on it,” Shanahan said. “It would’ve been a great bonus, that would’ve been awesome — would’ve loved to have BA out there. …
“But that was something I realized early on wasn’t gonna come for a while. … I think the rest of our team, also.”
When I asked if Aiyuk is out of the 49ers’ picture into the future, Shanahan said nothing’s been fully decided. But the tone of his non-answer was pretty much an answer, too.
“I literally haven’t had to think about BA or had a reason to think about him in a long time,” Shanahan said. “He is under contract next year. BA’s a guy we’ve had relationship for a while; I’ve always liked BA. Everyone knows how good of a player he is.
“It’s extremely unfortunate that it’s got to this point, but when this year is over, we’ll see where we’re at.”
The 49ers will go down the stretch with Jennings, Pearsall, Kendrick Bourne, and Demarcus Robinson — that’s not quite the heights they reached when Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, and Jennings were one of the most versatile and well-rounded trios in the NFL a few years back. But nothing stays the same or serene in this league and especially the WR room for the 49ers.
Ricky Pearsall had his best game since returning from a knee injury on Sunday against the Titans. | Source: Amber Pietz/The Standard
They also have the luxury of Kittle (8 receptions for 88 yards and a TD on Sunday) and Christian McCaffrey (who was kept below 100 total yards for only the third time this season but still put up 73 rushing and 14 receiving yards and ran for a TD).
The 49ers might lose Jennings to free agency, so they know they likely will need to add a quality WR either in free agency or the draft or both next offseason. But they’ve got the foundation for another very good group and that foundation will be on full display over the next month or so.
Pearsall has impressed the 49ers by pushing through multiple injuries — including, of course, a gunshot wound right before the start of the 2024 season and a knee injury early this season — and needs to stay reasonably healthy for a stretch of games before anybody can get a full sense of his value.
Pearsall started off hot before his injury this season but only caught five balls in his first three games since returning. Then he had an 8-yard reception on the 49ers’ first play on Sunday and just kept producing all game.
Over the past few weeks, Shanahan seemed a bit annoyed after getting asked several times about Pearsall’s low recent production — replying each time that he thought Pearsall was playing well and that eventually the ball would find him plenty of times.
“Yeah, I was getting annoyed (at the questions), too, not going to lie,” Pearsall said with a smile on Sunday.
Later, Pearsall pointed to McCaffrey and Kittle’s nearby lockers and said: “Obviously my locker mates that I’m right next to, there’s big vets, that tell me things I need to hear … that the ball’s going to continue to come my way later in the season and just to always be ready.”
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said he hasn’t had to think about Brandon Aiyuk “in a long time.” | Source: Amber Pietz/The Standard
Can Pearsall fully take over Aiyuk’s role as WR1? That’s unknown. But there’s no doubt that Pearsall’s teammates feel like something big is happening here.
You couldn’t miss the way McCaffrey’s eyes lit up on Sunday when he was asked about Pearsall’s potential impact on this team.
“I’ve had the utmost respect for Ricky — he’s an unbelievable player,” McCaffrey said. “And as good as he’s done, he knows he can do more. Just watching him practice, really no one can cover him. He’s so good, he’s so shifty, he’s so fast, great hands.
“The best part about Ricky is he’s going to keep getting better, keep getting better. And I can’t wait to see when he eventually does pop off, because he’s a special player.”
Or the way Purdy spoke at length about Pearsall’s response to the previous three weeks:
“I love Ricky because he and I are honest with each other. … Ricky’s got such a good heart in terms of he just wants to do what’s best for the team. He’ll never be a guy that’s going to go out of his way (to) complain that ‘I didn’t get targets or the ball’ or whatever.
“He’s about the team, man. And he understands that his moments and opportunities will come as we play. Today was just one of those days. But we’ve all been itching to get him involved since he’s been back from his injury.”
Purdy wasn’t saying that as a reaction to anything that’s happened with Aiyuk and the 49ers. He was just speaking about something that could go very right the rest of this season and maybe for many more after that.
But you couldn’t help comparing this to something that has gone wildly wrong for the 49ers over the past few months — and to a player was supposed to be a huge part of their present and future and now is so far gone that he’s barely a ghost of a memory.