San Francisco 49ers’ star, playing with fractured ankle, plans to finish season

If Fred Warner decides to call it a season, it’s unlikely he would be criticized for his decision.

The San Francisco 49ers’ star linebacker revealed last week that he has been playing on a fractured ankle he sustained during San Francisco’s 30-13 Week 4 win over the New England Patriots. The 49ers’ chances of reaching the playoffs have dropped considerably following blowout losses to the Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills in the past two weeks.

Star running back Christian McCaffrey has been shut down for the remainder of the season after suffering a knee injury against the Bills. Backup Jordan Mason was placed on injured reserve with a high ankle sprain that will likely end his season.

Considering the 49ers’ chances of reaching the playoffs are slim, along with the multiple injuries to star players and his ankle, no one would be surprised if Warner said he’s done for 2024. Except Warner, who said his plan is for “finishing out the season.”

“The injuries haven’t gone our way, especially at specific positions, key starters, ones that have a big effect on the game,” Warner told reporters on Wednesday. “But at the end of the day, it’s the NFL. A lot of teams are dealing with worse than what we’re dealing with. So, I’m just always trying to look to find a way to win a game with who we’ve got out there. At the end of the day, we’ve got 11 NFL players on our side of the ball, so we gotta go.”

That means Warner is expected to play when the 49ers (5-7) take on the Chicago Bears on Sunday. Warner and the 49ers find themselves in an unaccustomed position. They were 9-3 after 12 games in 2023 and 8-4 in 2022. The 49ers were 6-6 in 2021 but still managed to reach the NFC championship game, the first of three consecutive trips to the conference title game.

“You have everything ahead of you to just win one game. We’re not looking ahead at anything else – of five games left, of playoff hopes, of anything,” Warner told reporters on Wednesday. “It’s honestly like, ‘Hey, let’s just get back to winning a football game.’ Or even giving ourselves a chance to win a game because being in two blowout losses is the worst feeling in the world.”