The San Francisco 49ers managed to survive and win Saturday night's divisional round playoff game against the Packers despite Deebo Samuel missing most of the game with a left shoulder injury suffered in the first quarter. .
But the 49ers need Samuel if they want to win the 2024 Super Bowl, and his status for next week's NFC Championship Game against the winner of Sunday's Lions-Buccaneers game in Santa Clara is currently uncertain. .
The star wide receiver will undergo further testing Sunday, and the team hopes he doesn't miss the next two games against the Vikings and Bengals with a hairline shoulder fracture he suffered in mid-October.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said Saturday night that the severity of Samuel's injury is not yet known, but one source said: told ESPN They believe Samuel has a chance to play next Sunday.
Samuel, 28, caught 60 passes for 892 yards and seven touchdowns in 15 regular season games, adding 225 yards rushing and five rushing scores.
After Samuel was injured in Week 6 against the Browns, the Niners scored just 17 points in the loss to the Browns that day, and then scored exactly 17 points in each of their subsequent games against Minnesota and at home against Cincinnati.
“Devo is a great football player,” 49ers tight end George Kittle said after Saturday's game, according to ESPN. “He's been great, especially for what we're asking him to do. When Devo is there and you match him up with Christian (McCaffrey) and you swap them around, it improves our offense. I think it makes us different than any other offense in the NFL. So, am I worried about him not playing next week? Yeah. We're a different team without Devo.”
Brock Purdy, who was largely held back by the Packers without Samuel, capped off a 12-play, 69-yard drive capped by Christian McCaffrey's go-ahead 6-yard touchdown run with 1:07 left in the fourth quarter.
