The 3-0 49ers have already had plenty of injuries this season. The biggest happened on Sunday, with defensive end Nick Bosa suffering a torn ACL in his knee.
“He had a pretty good idea of what we were going to find out today,” coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters on Monday regarding Bosa’s injury. “But obviously he is bummed out and down, but Nick can handle anything and he is going to handle it like he always does, which will be great. But obviously he was bummed out from it not being able to finish out this year, and especially how good of a year he was having so far.”
His absence leaves a massive void for the defense.
“You don’t just replace a guy like Nick,” Shanahan said. “It just puts — you know, everyone’s got to continue to get better at everything. It’s the same thing I’d be preaching if we did have Nick too. When you lose your better players, it gets harder, but I also expect throughout this year all of our players to get better as it goes. That’s stressed even that much more when you lose a great one like Nick. Lots of guys obviously will have to step it up as it goes, but I believe that’ll be more by committee than any individual.”
Shanahan didn’t rule out exploring a possible trade, with this caveat: “There’s got to be trade options that make sense for you and another team, but you can’t just do that stuff just to do it.”
And so they’ll most likely count on younger players to help replace Bosa’s production.
“We needed guys to step it up to play along with Nick, and now that he’s out, you need them that much more,” Shanahan said. “But I had definitely been happy with those guys. I think they’ve done better each week. I thought Mykel [Williams] had a really good game yesterday. I think [Bryce] Huff’s done some real good things, Sam [Okuayinonu], all our edge players I think have been contributing and hopefully they continue to get better throughout this year.”
It’s one of the most basic realities of any football season, especially one with 17 games. Players will get injured. The question becomes whether the replacements can approach the injured player’s performance.
Given that Bosa is one of the best pass rushers in the league, it won’t be easy for the 49ers to do. But what else can they do?
The next train is already rolling down the track, followed by 13 more. And at least one more after that, if their unbeaten start finishes with a return to the postseason.