At an up-and-down 3-4, the reigning NFC champion San Francisco 49ers can’t be reliably counted on as a bona fide contender. That makes Brandon Aiyuk’s season-ending knee injury an outright disaster for a Bay Area constellation of football superstars still chasing an elusive Lombardi Trophy.

The strength of the San Francisco 49ers’ offense the past few seasons has been the number of dynamic playmakers that makes it nearly impossible to stop every option.

It took a while for 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk to find his sea legs in the 2024 NFL season, and just as it appears that he found his groove, Aiyuk’s season may be coming to an end. Aiyuk left today’s loss to the Chiefs shortly before the end of the first half and was unable to return.