49ers' Christian McCaffrey - Was 'group decision' to sit out MNF - ESPN

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Two days after he was a surprise inactive in Monday night's season opener, San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey explained how the decision to keep him out was made and why he was adamant on Friday that he would be available to play.

Speaking to Bay Area media before Wednesday afternoon's practice, McCaffrey attributed his confidence that he'd be able to play last week to the mentality he believes is necessary in such situations.

«My mindset every week is I'm going to play,» McCaffrey said. «There's been weeks where I'll go the full week, not even feeling good enough to do the walk-through, and then I wake up and the body's capable of a lot of cool things. Mentally, I'm always prepared to play, and then I woke up and it was a group decision, a very tough one. I hate not playing but I look at it as a chess move and something that hopefully you can benefit from the rest of the season.»

McCaffrey did not play against the New York Jets because of lingering calf and Achilles issues. Coach Kyle Shanahan explained Tuesday that the bigger problem for McCaffrey has been Achilles tendinitis because it comes and goes at varying degrees of severity.

Wednesday, Shanahan was asked whether there was any thought given to shutting McCaffrey down and placing him on injured reserve. Shanahan quickly shot that idea down.

«No, I've never considered that,» Shanahan said. «We considered that he would play last week, so definitely not thinking about four weeks off.»

Because the Niners played on Monday night, they will have fewer days to recover and prepare for Sunday's game against the Vikings in Minnesota. They were slated for a lighter practice on Wednesday afternoon, a practice in which McCaffrey is again