LAS VEGAS – Nick Bosa thought long and hard to name the toughest player in the NFL.
“I think Christian,” Bosa said. “Being a running back in this league is a painful job, and he never lets it show.”
Christian McCaffrey ran his way to the NFL rushing title this season and is a critical component to the 49ers’ chances Sunday in Super Bowl LVIII against the Kansas City Chiefs.
“Ever since he was 7 years old and picked up a football, he’s been obsessed with this sport,” Ed McCaffrey, Christian’s father, exclusively told this news organization Tuesday. “He’s given everything he possibly could to it. And he’s always been a pretty tough kid.”
Now it’s time to take after his father on the Super Bowl stage and win a Lombardi Trophy.
Ed McCaffrey played wide receiver on the 1994 49ers’ team that won the franchise’s fifth and most recent Super Bowl. Ending that championship drought Sunday would make the McCaffreys only the second father-son duo to win a Super Bowl with the same franchise, joining Steve and Zak DeOssie of the New York Giants.
“It would mean a lot to bring that into the family again. It would be special,” Christian McCaffrey said. “Nobody wants to see us win more than my family.”
Growing up with three brothers in Castle Rock, Colorado, their father’s Super Bowl legacy did not cast an intimidating shadow.
Rarely did Ed McCaffrey open up his safe-deposit box to show off his Super Bowl rings, having also won with the 1997 and ’98 Denver Broncos. (Mike Shanahan coached those championship teams, and he was the 1994 49ers’ offensive coordinator. Now Mike’s son, Kyle, is coaching Ed’s son, Christian, for a generation-crossing title shot.)
Christian was just 2 when his father won his third and final Super Bowl, but his dad’s career lasted five more seasons, allowing for the McCaffrey boys to enjoy the NFL scene.
“He was in the locker room hanging around Rod Smith and Shannon Sharpe, and, in general, he remembers the feel of what it meant to be on a Super Bowl championship team and be around great players,” Ed McCaffrey said Tuesday morning, after his co-hosting stint on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
His son recalled those times while speaking at Monday night’s media circus on the Allegiant Stadium field. Whether it was playing Power Rangers with Smith and Sharpe, or swiping Tiger Milk protein bars from the equipment room, those memories remain vivid to Christian, who cherishes them.
“He’s heard stories from me what future Hall of Fame coach Mike Shanahan would say and do,” he added. “He saw not just the physical ability of my teammates, but how determined they were to win a Super Bowl and how we were selfless and played together.”
When it came to replaying Super Bowl highlights, the kids were on their own, and they would find their father’s clips online. Christian McCaffrey said “it was always a lot of fun” to watch NFL Films’ season recaps of their father’s title teams.
“I promise you all my boys have watched Super Bowl 29, 32 and 33 way more times than I have,” Ed McCaffery said, having left his Super Bowl rings back in Colorado. “They’re students of the game, and they’re younger and grew up with technology.”
Ed and his wife, Lisa, a former Stanford soccer player, did not want to pressure their sons into playing football. They wanted each of their four sons – Max, Christian, Dylan, and Luke – to have their own experiences.
“So we never had Lombardi Trophies in the house. We never had the rings out for anyone to see,” Ed McCaffrey, 55, said. “If they wanted to play football, I wanted it all about them, and there were no expectations. They were playing for fun.”
“From a young age, he always told us to maximize the talents that God’s given us and to do as much as you can with what you have,” Christian said. “I’ve always taken that to heart, to do as much as possible.”
After experiencing painful calf cramps in a season-opening game at Valor Christian High (Highlands Ranch, Colorado), he followed his father’s advice and would get a saline IV ahead of other Friday night games.
Christian was the only child to follow his parents’ path to Stanford, where he thrived and became a Heisman Trophy finalist. Before entering the NFL as a 2017 first-round draft pick of the Carolina Panthers, McCaffrey was scouted hard by 49ers running backs coach Bobby Turner.
“He was awesome,” Turner recalled. “He can think on his feet. Nothing he does surprises me. When I interviewed him at the (pre-draft scouting) combine, it was the last interview he had and it was awesome. He’s smart, he’s intelligent and he knows the game.”
Turner served in that same position with the Broncos when Ed McCaffrey played there. The senior McCaffrey was a 1991 third-round draft pick out of Stanford by the New York Giants. After three seasons there, he played on the 1994 49ers’ championship team, then followed Mike Shanahan to the Broncos.
“We are fortunate to have a dad who won three Super Bowls, played 13 years and had a lot of success, but also did it the right way and is a great father,” Christian said. “He taught all of us how to play the game and how to do it the right way.”
This season, that includes becoming the first 49ers player to win the NFL rushing title since Joe “The Jet” Perry in 1954. McCaffrey ran for 1,459 yards (fourth-most in 49ers history) and a franchise-record 14 touchdowns. He shared the team lead with seven touchdown catches (67 receptions, 564 yards). Then he ran for two touchdowns in each of their playoff wins leading up to the Super Bowl.
“He’s got that lower-leg firepower, but the bottom line is he’s a finisher,” Turner added.
When the 49ers traded for McCaffrey in October 2022, he said it “felt like home and where I was supposed to be,” partly because of the overlap between those from his father’s era and current 49ers. Aside from the Shanahan connection and Turner’s coaching, assistants Brian Griese (quarterbacks) and Anthony Lynn (running backs) played for the Broncos with Ed McCaffrey.
“It’s cool to go to work with all those guys, knowing we’re kind of cut from the same cloth,” Christian said.
Having traded away four picks to Carolina in that deal, Kyle Shanahan envisioned McCaffrey’s trade paying off with a 49ers’ Super Bowl run.
“That’s what you hope for. That’s why we made that risk,” Shanahan said.
Jed York, the 49ers’ CEO, revealed last week that he and general manager John Lynch had to convince Shanahan to close the deal, to throw in an extra draft pick to beat out the NFC West-rival Rams for McCaffrey.
“We gave up a decent amount for him,” Shanahan said, “but when you look back at it, we feel pretty damn good about that.”
The feeling is mutual with the 49ers’ star running back, a 27-year-old superstar who started playing football 20 years ago. He moonlighted at linebacker and safety in youth football, and pinning his role down to “running back” is almost an affront to his versatility. He has always only sought one label: a football player.
“For a while, people would get frustrated with that answer. What position do you play? I’m a football player,” Ed said.
Ed even shared some fatherly advice for this week in the run-up to this game, the biggest of his son’s career.
“Best advice he gave: Just to find your Zen,” Christian answered. “This is different than a normal week, with all you (reporters) here shining bright lights in our faces. Find your Zen, stay as calm as possible.”
And find the end zone as often as possible, too. Then emerge with a ring to join his dad’s collection.
“It’s a dream come true. This is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a little kid,” Christian said. “This is an opportunity I don’t take it lightly. I’m extremely grateful to be here.”