49ers storm clouds gather as 2026 NFL season kicks off
The clouds that hovered over the 49ers last season now look like harmless spring showers compared with the torrential storm they dealt with before boarding a plane to Melbourne, Australia.Before the season even began, they were dealing with one haymaker after another.How they ultimately fight off all those punches will determine what happens from this point forward. Kyle Shanahan is still recovering from a serious car accident that left him with a concussion, broken ribs, a broken hand, a broken nose and significant injuries to his face.Ricky Pearsall is out for the season after undergoing surgery to repair the posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.Nick Bosa was stringently managed during training camp, and missed significant time while coming back from his surgically repaired right knee.Christian McCaffrey mysteriously missed two weeks of camp for what the 49ers described merely as “tightness,” inevitably reviving questions about the health and durability of their 30-year-old star running back.At any given moment during camp, the health of 20 or so players was being managed and monitored. Meanwhile, Jed York, the principal owner of one of the NFL’s signature franchises, was arrested and pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and possession of criminal tools stemming from an undercover prostitution operation in Ohio.Any one of those developments would be unsettling.Taken together, they create the unmistakable sense of a franchise being battered from every direction before its season has even begun.What are we supposed to make of all this?From a football standpoint, it might amount to nothing.Or it could seep into everything.
Whether the storm remains outside the locker room will depend on Shanahan, one of the NFL’s most respected coaches, and the influence of the veteran leaders who command the room.Shanahan bears some responsibility for the clouds gathering over the 49ers.Now it falls on him to guide them through the sto...