San Francisco 49ers star Christian McCaffrey continued his remarkable late-career surge on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, delivering a performance that cemented a new place in NFL history.
Facing the Las Vegas Raiders after a bye week, the 49ers running back scored twice in the first half—once on the ground and once through the air—as the 49ers built a 21-10 lead.
The receiving score, a 12-yard catch from Brock Purdy with just over five minutes left in the second quarter, marked McCaffrey’s 36th career touchdown reception.
With that score, the 30-year-old moved past Marshall Faulk to claim the Super Bowl-era record for receiving touchdowns by a running back. The 49ers made the announcement on social media.
The milestone arrived amid a familiar workload for McCaffrey. Through the first half, he carried 13 times for 56 yards and a touchdown while adding one catch for 12 yards and the historic score.
Earlier in the game he had already crossed 8,000 career rushing yards, another quiet testament to his sustained excellence.
Entering the contest, McCaffrey had already piled up 84 carries for 389 yards and eight touchdowns this season, along with 34 receptions for 251 yards.
The dual scoring effort pushed his career rushing touchdown total to 71 while extending his receiving production in a year that has tested the 49ers’ depth.
Several key offensive pieces, including Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel, and Christian Kirk, were unavailable, yet the unit still produced efficiently. Much of that continuity rested on McCaffrey’s dual-threat role.
He remains the primary backfield workhorse and a reliable outlet for Purdy when the pocket collapses or the coverage tightens.
Drafted out of Stanford in 2017, McCaffrey has long blended power, vision, and receiving skill at a level few running backs sustain into their thirties.
At an age when many backs begin to lose explosiveness, he continues to shoulder a heavy load without measurable decline.
The 49ers marked the moment on social media with a simple declaration that McCaffrey now sits at the top of the Super Bowl-era list for running backs.
Fans responded in kind, offering quick congratulations and praise for the veteran’s consistency. The achievement arrives at a point in the season when San Francisco is looking to stabilize its offense and climb the standings.
McCaffrey’s ability to score on the ground and through the air in the same half offers a practical illustration of why the 49ers continue to lean on him so heavily.
For a player who has already compiled elite rushing and receiving totals across a decade in the league, the record is less a culmination than another data point in an unusually durable career.
As the second half unfolds against the Raiders, McCaffrey’s latest touchdown simply extends a pattern of production that has defined him since his early days in Carolina and has only grown more pronounced in San Francisco.
