3 Takeaways from 49ers' Week 8 Win vs. Rams

If the San Francisco 49ers go on a run and win the NFC West this season, a large reason for that will likely be their acquisition of Christian McCaffrey. Because now that the running back is fully incorporated into their offense, the unit has been taken to another level.

McCaffrey did it all in the 49ers' 31-14 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at SoFi Stadium in his second game since getting traded to San Francisco from the Carolina Panthers. He ran for 94 yards and a touchdown, caught eight passes for 55 yards and another score and also threw a 34-yard TD pass to Brandon Aiyuk.

Jimmy Garoppolo's 9-yard touchdown strike to McCaffrey gave the 49ers a 17-14 lead with 1 minute and 51 seconds to go in the third quarter. It was also part of 24 unanswered points by San Francisco to close out the game that helped it snap a two-game losing streak and improve to 4-4.

Here are three takeaways from the 49ers' Week 8 victory.

McCaffrey can run the ball better than most (if not all) running backs in the NFL. He can catch the ball better than all of them, too. And the 26-year-old can even throw it around a bit. These are all the reasons why the 49ers traded for McCaffrey, and he put them all on display Sunday.

With his all-around dominating performance, McCaffrey became only the fourth player since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to have a passing, rushing and receiving touchdown in the same game, per Nick Wagoner of ESPN. The former Stanford RB joined Walter Payton (1979), David Patten (2001) and LaDainian Tomlinson (2005) in achieving the feat.

“He plays our style, and he’s only going to get better and better,” San Francisco defensive end Nick Bosa said of McCaffrey, per Greg Beacham of the Associated Press.

In Week 7, McCaffrey had only 62 total yards on 10 touches in his 49ers debut, as he was traded to the team only three days before that matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. This week's performance was a much better showcase of what he'll bring to San Francisco's offense moving forward.

Sure, McCaffrey may not regularly be throwing touchdowns in the future. But he's such a dynamic player that he's capable of doing just about anything when he's on the field.

The Rams' offense isn't always easy to stop. After all, they have some talented playmakers of their own, including Cooper Kupp, last season's NFL Offensive Player of the Year. But the 49ers shut that unit down—again.

Los Angeles had only 223 total yards, 61 of which came in the second half. Kupp had only one 7-yard reception over the final two quarters, and the Rams never got their running game going, as they finished with 21 carries for 56 yards overall.

San Francisco made Los Angeles' offense one-dimensional, and it worked out in its favor. It was similar to what the 49ers previously did in their 24-9 home win over the Rams in Week 4.

So it's clear San Francisco knows what it needs to do to limit Los Angeles' offensive production. But these two teams won't meet again in the regular season. That means the 49ers need to build off this defensive success and try to do this well against other teams, including some that have strong offenses.

The 49ers may be a game out of the NFC West lead, but they're still in a great position in the division heading into their Week 9 bye. And even though San Francisco is 4-4, having endured some early struggles, there's reason for optimism moving forward.

The team currently at the top of the NFC West is the Seattle Seahawks, who are 5-3. But the 49ers have already beaten the Seahawks this season, as they notched a 27-7 home win over Seattle in Week 2.

The Rams are a surprising 3-4, while the Arizona Cardinals are 3-5. So it's quite possible the 49ers could overtake the Seahawks at some point within the next few weeks and then become the clear front-runner in the division.

San Francisco's offense is filled with playmakers (including McCaffrey now) and its defense has established some momentum. So the 49ers likely haven't reached their full potential yet. But it's quite possible they will when they return to action for the second half of the regular season.