Christian McCaffrey takes Super Bowl-era receiving record for running backs in 49ers’ win over Raiders

Christian McCaffrey did not need a long afternoon to move alone into the Super Bowl-era record book. One catch in the second quarter was enough to separate him from Marshall Faulk and give the 49ers a milestone that fit the shape of the game: efficient, direct and built around a back who keeps producing as both a runner and a receiver.

McCaffrey’s record-breaking score came with 5:15 left before halftime, when Brock Purdy found him for a 12-yard touchdown in the middle of San Francisco’s 38-17 win over the Raiders. It was McCaffrey’s 37th career touchdown reception, one more than Faulk’s 36 and the new standard for running backs in the Super Bowl era. The catch did not stand alone on the stat sheet, either. McCaffrey had already opened the day with a 1-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, so the record came in a game he was already influencing on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

That combination is what makes the number meaningful. Running backs can pile up touchdowns in one phase of the game and disappear in another, but McCaffrey reached this mark by staying relevant as a target as well as a ball carrier. The reception that passed Faulk did not merely add to his total; it pushed him past a Hall of Famer whose receiving production defined the position for an era. In the NFL’s accounting, McCaffrey now owns the most receiving scores by a running back in the Super Bowl era and sits tied for fifth in NFL history at the position.

The record also snapped a dry spell that had lasted longer than any previous receiving touchdown drought in McCaffrey’s career. Before Sunday, he had gone nine games without a receiving score dating back to last regular season, though he did catch two touchdown passes in last season’s wild-card round. That detail matters because it frames the milestone properly: the drought was real, but it never changed the larger record of his career. One quiet stretch did not erase the broader body of work that brought him to 36 receiving touchdowns before kickoff.

San Francisco’s result matters too. The 38-17 score was not some back-and-forth slugfest that happened to include a landmark play; the 49ers controlled the Raiders well enough that McCaffrey’s milestone fit inside a decisive win. CBS Sports reported that he finished with 18 carries for 68 yards and a rushing touchdown, plus two catches for 19 yards and the receiving score. That is a useful reminder that the record came from a complete workload, not a one-play cameo. Even with rookie Kaelon Black leading the 49ers in rushing yards, McCaffrey remained the featured option and turned 20 touches into two touchdowns.

Faulk’s place on the list gives the record added weight. He had been the benchmark for Super Bowl-era receiving production by a running back, and McCaffrey’s move past him is not a projection or a comparison to what might happen later. It is a verified change in the record book, completed on a 12-yard throw from Purdy with more than five minutes left in the second quarter. From there, the 49ers kept building on a lead that never asked McCaffrey to carry the whole offense, only to keep doing what he has done throughout his career: create value as a runner, a receiver and a red-zone threat.

The next concrete marker is not a chase for symbolism. It is San Francisco’s Week 10 trip to Dallas, where McCaffrey will try to extend a seven-game touchdown streak. For now, the relevant fact is simpler: against the Raiders, he turned a second-quarter catch into a record and a comfortable win into one of the clearest statistical landmarks of the season.