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SANTA CLARA — As Mike Evans goes, so go the 49ers.
The 33-year-old wide receiver left their 23-17 win over the Commanders on Monday night and San Francisco’s offense flat-lined to such a degree that they nearly let a 20-point lead slip away.
The postgame prognosis came with good news and bad news.
The positive: Coach Kyle Shanahan downplayed concerns about Evans’ Achilles tendon, which kept him out of practice this week and forced him from the game late in the first half.
The not-so-positive: Brock Purdy may have to find another top target, at least in the short term.
According to NBC Sports Bay Area insider Jennifer Lee Chan, Evans’ Achilles tendon remained “intact” but the 49ers were bracing for him to miss at least next week’s game in Atlanta.
That conflicted with the positive spin Shanahan put on Evans’ outlook after the game.
“Hopefully he’ll be able to play next week,” Shanahan said. “But if not, we’ll have to have the rest of the group step up and hopefully get him healed up after the bye week.”
Shanahan described Evans’ condition as “Achilles tendinitis” and said that he didn’t plan to undergo further testing. It popped up this week for the first time this season, in addition to his broken ribs from Week 3, preventing him from being even a limited participant in practice.
“Just acted up too much in the game and couldn’t go,” Shanahan said. “We’ll see how he feels this week. … Just talking to Mike, it was something he had dealt with in the past in his career. He felt confident that he’d be good today, so that was the confidence he gave me.
“But we knew that he might not be able to last.”
Shanahan said it was a “pretty close call” whether Evans would suit up at all against the Commanders. He ended up leading the 49ers with 93 yards on three catches, despite limping to the locker room about a minute before halftime and never returning.
Without Evans, and already missing four of their other top receivers, the 49ers’ offense grinded to a halt. After kicking a field goal on their first drive of the second half, San Francisco went three-and-out on three consecutive drives as Washington scored two unanswered touchdowns.
“I don’t think we went three-and-out three straight times because Mike wasn’t out there,” said tight end George Kittle, who was San Francisco’ second-leading receiver with 69 yards and a touchdown on five receptions. “Obviouslly he would’ve helped.
“We’ve just got to execute, and I don’t think we did.”
Although the 49ers hung on to improve to 6-0, it wasn’t exactly an encouraging sign for the offense’s ability to withstand yet another blow. If Evans isn’t able to go next week against the Falcons, the 49ers’ top receivers could be Brandin Cooks, Jordan Watkins and Jacob Cowing.
While Christian Kirk (calf) returned to practice this week and was listed as questionable to make his season debut, Shanahan said the 29-year-old was merely a “possibility” to be activated next week, the same terminology he used leading into this game.
Demarcus Robinson, who suffered a high-ankle sprain in Week 2, is not yet an option, Shanahan said. De’Zhaun Stribling and Deebo Samuel are even further away, and Ricky Pearsall is out for the year.
It only served to underscore how quickly the future Hall of Famer has become an integral part of the 49ers offense. They signed Evans with the understanding that he has missed 10 games the past two seasons but decided that was worth the tradeoff to bring in a talent of his caliber.
Now, they’re left crossing their fingers.
“When you have Achilles tendonitis like he does, it kind of is what it is,” Shanahan said. “It flared up tonight. I hope he recovers throughout the week, but you don’t think it’s a long-term thing. But right now, it almost cost him this game. It cost him two quarters.”
