Ricky Pearsall’s return to the field after being shot brought a brief lift for the 49ers, but it didn’t last long. During the game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Brandon Aiyuk suffered a right knee injury that coach Kyle Shanahan fears might be a season-ending ACL tear.
Shanahan mentioned that the team is waiting for an MRI scheduled for Monday to confirm the injury, but they expect Aiyuk to be out for the rest of the season. This is another setback for a San Francisco team already missing All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey and other key players.
“I know a lot of teams deal with that,” Shanahan said about the injuries. “Not every team, but we’re dealing with it hard right now. It got worse today. It’s tough.”
Aiyuk got hurt late in the first half when he was hit on the knee after making a catch in the red zone. He stayed down for a few minutes before being taken to the locker room and was quickly ruled out for the remainder of the game.
Aiyuk, who signed a $120 million, four-year extension in late August, has 25 catches for 374 yards this season. Last year, he was a second-team All-Pro with 1,342 receiving yards.
“Obviously just what BA does for our offense, who he is as a teammate and brother of ours, man, it’s sad,” quarterback Brock Purdy said. “So wish him nothing but the best moving forward. That’s my guy.”
San Francisco was already without two other top receivers, with Jauan Jennings out due to a hip injury that isn’t expected to be long-term and Deebo Samuel limited to four snaps against Kansas City because of an illness.
With the injuries to other players, more responsibility fell on Pearsall, who was activated from the non-football injury list on Saturday. He stepped in for his first play during San Francisco’s opening drive and caught his first career pass late in the second quarter. Pearsall ended the game with three catches for 21 yards.
“He was going to get eased in a little today,” Shanahan said. “That changed a little bit with Deebo going out and it changed a bunch with Aiyuk going out. So he had to do more than we expected today and I was proud of him for handling it. It’s great to have him back.”
Pearsall returned to practice this past Monday for the first time since he was shot in the chest in San Francisco’s Union Square area on August 31. He spent one night in the hospital but didn’t suffer damage to any organs or nerves, and he was back working out at the team facility the following week.
“Obviously my first thoughts through the whole incident was whether I was going to be alive or not,” Pearsall said. “Once I knew I was going to be OK, and I was going to be able to live, the next question was whether I was going to play football again.
As soon as I got that answer, that light just grew inside of me and I was super excited to get back out here.” Pearsall, who was drafted in the first round in April, missed most of training camp due to hamstring and shoulder injuries but was on track to be ready for the opener before the shooting incident. It took weeks for Pearsall to fully recover so he could play in a game.
“The biggest hurdle for me was just recovering from the wound,” he said. “There was obviously a lot of scar tissue built up in the area, and since it was in my chest, under my armpit.
Just working through that, making sure I’m getting that all worked on and getting that scar tissue out. And once I started feeling a better range of motion, pain tolerance-wise, that’s when I was headed in the right direction in practice to return.”
Pearsall showed he was ready during practice that week, but stepping onto the field for the first time as a professional was the biggest moment for him.
“It meant everything to me,” Pearsall said. “Obviously, all the adversity I just went through this past month. It was really good to go out there with my guys again. I think that’s a refresher for me at the end of the day.
When the incident first happened, the first thing I was thinking about was the guys in this locker room, the coaches in the locker room, and the entire staff. They did a really good job of rallying around me and making sure I stayed up. It was a huge blessing for me today.”
