Even the toughest, most resilient teams have a breaking point.

The 49ers likely reached theirs Sunday in the Niners’ 30-19 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

San Francisco spent the first five weeks of this season not just weathering a storm of injuries, and not just surviving, but even thriving without the contributions of George Kittle (out since the first half of Week 1), Brock Purdy (has played two games), Brandon Aiyuk (out since Week 7 of 2024), and Nick Bosa (season-ending injury in Week 3).

For a roster that was built on the stars-and-scrubs model, having nearly a quarter of your team’s salary-cap spending on the sidelines is a big problem, and yet San Francisco went to Tampa Bay with a 4-1 record and a chance to take first place in the NFC standings Sunday. It was a testament to

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