Christian McCaffrey was 7 years old, deep enough into his first season of tackle football that he knew how to put on his equipment.
The Parker Hawks faced the Cherry Creek Bruins in Colorado’s Arapahoe Youth League, and to McCaffrey, the game held an importance he didn’t understand until it was over.
“We had lost bad earlier in the year to Cherry Creek in what we called the Super Bowl,” McCaffrey told this news organization in a recent exclusive interview. “In my head, it’s a big game. It’s like a blizzard, with just parents on the sideline. My dad was coaching my older brother on another field.
“I remember my mom was there. Long story short, it comes down to the end and I tip the ball away on defense to win the game. I started crying. I’d never had an emotion like that in my life. I was 7 years old. I didn’t even know what emotions were yet. Joy to the extent of crying? I just knew right then I wanted to do this for my life.”
Nineteen years later, the real Super Bowl beckons on Feb. 12 with McCaffrey as the versatile offensive star for the 49ers. The road to Super Bowl LVII begins Saturday when the 49ers (13-4) host the Seattle Seahawks (9-8) at Levi’s Stadium at 1:30 p.m.
A lot of things have gone right for the 49ers to run the table on the regular season after a 3-4 start, but none are bigger than the Oct. 20 trade with the Carolina Panthers that brought the former Stanford star back to the Bay Area.
Coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch served notice they were all-in for a run at the title when they shipped a sizable chunk of draft capital (second-, third- and fourth-round picks in 2023 and a fifth-round pick in 2024) to Carolina in exchange for McCaffrey.
After playing a bit part in a 44-23 loss to the Chiefs two days after arriving, McCaffrey became a featured back the following week against the Los Angeles Rams. He rushed for 94 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown, caught eight passes for 55 yards and a touchdown and even threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk.
The 49ers haven’t lost since.
McCaffrey has scored 10 touchdowns during the 10-game win streak, rushed for 749 yards on 159 carries and caught 52 passes for 464 yards with the 49ers. When you add in his pre-trade Carolina numbers, he’s having one of his best seasons since being the No. 8 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Given McCaffrey’s injury history — he missed 22 games in the 2020 and 2021 seasons after heavy use in 2018-19 — there wasn’t anything close to acclamation for the 49ers’ deal when it was made.
There was never doubt, however, about McCaffrey’s willingness to work and prepare. Teammates at every stop consider it legendary – traits born of an emphasis on school and multiple sports with four boys who all went on to play college football.
Ed McCaffrey played at Stanford and 12 years in the NFL with the Giants, 49ers and Broncos. Lisa McCaffrey, Ed’s wife, was a soccer player at Stanford. Her father was an Olympic sprinter.
Lynch, a teammate of Ed McCaffrey at Stanford, saw the dynamic up close when he and his family were invited to a McCaffrey barbecue after he joined the Denver Broncos in 2004. The McCaffrey boys – Max, Christian, Dylan and Luke ranged in age from 10 to 5. They were well-mannered but also hyper-competitive.
Lynch’s son Jake, who later played football at Stanford, grew up with three sisters and was in no way prepared for the McCaffrey experience during playtime.
“When it was time for dinner, Eddie and I went to get them, and Jake looked like he had seen a ghost,” Lynch said. “I said, ‘Jake, what’s going on buddy?’ He said, ‘Dad, they’re killing each other!’ It was dog-eat-dog.”
Christian went on to be one of the most celebrated high school athletes in the Denver area at Valor Christian in nearby Highlands Ranch and accepted a scholarship to Stanford like his father. David Shaw, the Stanford coach and a teammate of both Ed McCaffrey and Lynch at the school, learned quickly that McCaffrey’s special gifts included rocket fuel in terms of competitive nature.
When Stanford assistant Tavita Pritchard went on a recruiting visit for a Valor game, he called Shaw and told him he’d just seen a player who got mad every time he was tackled.
“He didn’t think anyone should be able to tackle him,” Shaw said. “His parents taught the kids to be the best kids they could be, to do well in school and compete like crazy. It’s a competitive family. But there’s also some nature in there. This guy’s a killer. He’s not faking it. He’s not putting it on. It’s just who he is.”
While Christian jokes “we were bred to play football,” in reality the boys were urged to play all sports growing up.
“He played football, basketball, baseball and lacrosse. He ran track. Played soccer at a real young age. Lisa was his coach when he was 3, 4 and 5,” Ed McCaffrey said in a phone interview. “He would fall in love with whatever sport he was playing at the time, but I think football was always his true love.”
But while Christian had varied interests, he wasn’t always open to new ideas.
“When Christian loves something, he’s all-in. That’s true in sports, it’s true in the classroom, it’s true in life,” Ed McCaffrey said. “But if he’s not interested in something, it’s like pulling teeth to get him to participate. He knew we wouldn’t allow him to play sports if he didn’t do well in the classroom, but he was miserable if it was a topic he didn’t care about.”
As a youth, Christian began piano lessons and was having none of it. The idea was aborted. But lo and behold, when a neighbor Christian’s age moved in and played the piano, his interest was piqued.
Maybe it was, as Christian later said, he was told “piano players get the girls.” Or that he realized he could play without the tedium of learning to read music. Either way, McCaffrey was hooked.
“He became obsessed with the piano,” Ed McCaffrey said.
Even where playing the piano was concerned, all roads led back to football.
“I started to develop a realization that piano is a lot like running back in a way,” McCaffrey said. “I can’t read music, so I just kind of listen to the sound and there’s a lot of synching and coordination with your brain and your body and reacting to noises the same way as a running back. You’re reacting constantly.”
The piano McCaffrey purchased remains behind in his Charlotte home and he said he doesn’t have a keyboard in his Bay Area residence. He’s all-in on football, every minute of every day. He has a famous girlfriend, Olivia Culpo, who is a former Miss USA, but even that is kept, as Lynch said, “low key.”
Besides the physical gifts, it is McCaffrey’s total immersion into football that makes him special.
“You look at the top golfers, the top tennis players, they’re all people who didn’t just start doing it in high school,” Shanahan said. “They’re usually guys who have been obsessed with it at a young age.”
Shanahan said McCaffrey and Nick Bosa, the 49ers star defensive end, are similar in the way they basically set up their life to maximize their ability to play football and achieve greatness.
“I’ve never been around a guy who cares more about performing,” Bosa said. “It’s literally his livelihood, and adding a guy like that to the team, especially at a position that is super important in Kyle’s offense, was a very important addition.”
When McCaffrey arrived in Santa Clara and needed to learn the offense as soon as possible, he was set up with quarterback Brock Purdy, at the time the backup to Jimmy Garoppolo.
“He wanted me to read every single play. He would say where he’s lining up, what he’s doing, his assignment,” Purdy said. “To see how fast he learned when he got here and how fast he knew our playbook was crazy to see. He’s so serious with everything he does. I’m thinking, ‘Man, this is what greatness looks like. This is why he is the way he is.’ “
Yet McCaffrey has gradually shown his humorous side as he’s gotten to know his teammates, zinging fullback and Harvard grad Kyle Juszczyk last week.
“It is wild to have a Stanford guy and a Harvard guy in the backfield at the same time, I don’t know if that’s ever happened before,” McCaffrey said. “I have to talk slow.”
McCaffrey displays virtually no pretense or sense of celebrity, to which he credits a home life that wouldn’t allow it and brought a sense of perspective to go with his football obsession.
“I’ve never looked at anyone as more important than anyone else,” McCaffrey said. “I come from a family that if you were to do that, they’ll humble you pretty quick. Plus this game is very humbling. It takes constant work to be great and you never have it all figured out.
“I mean, we play football for a living. If I go into a quantum physics class, I’m no longer the celebrity there. I’m an idiot.”
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