After leading the 49ers in rushing last season, injuries limited running back Elijah Mitchell to just five games in the 2022 regular season. Unfortunately, after two solid playoff performances, he won’t be joining them for their biggest game of the year.
Mitchell was listed as inactive for the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles today. Fortunately, star running back Christian McCaffrey is healthy enough to play.
Mitchell was the 49ers’ Week 1 starter until an injury kept him off the field until midway through the season. In his absence, McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and Jordan Mason have stepped up.
But after the 51-yard performance Mitchell had against the Dallas Cowboys last week, fans are concerned that his absence is going to make winning the NFC Championship Game a lot harder – maybe even impossible:
The San Francisco 49ers are fortunate that they have no many great players on offense and defense. Not many teams have multiple viable replacements for losing a star running back.
But the 49ers have done pretty well on offense without Mitchell for most of the season. It seems likely that they’ll be able to continue to thrive in his absence.
We’ll find out one way or another in very little time.
The NFC Championship game will air at 3 p.m. on FOX.