49ers return from late bye week refreshed and ready for playoff push

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers waited three months to get their long-awaited bye week and took advantage of the time off late in the season.

Colton McKivitz spent time wine tasting in Napa. Christian McCaffrey rested up and spent time with his newborn daughter. Trent Williams went back home to Houston.

Most importantly, everyone got a chance for a mental and physical break before the Niners (9-4) prepare to make a late-season playoff push over the next four weeks.

“It was fun to kind of just watch football Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, just from a fan perspective," coach Kyle Shanahan said Wednesday. "It was different having a bye this late. I don’t know if I’d ever ask for that or wish upon it, but it was kind of nice. Usually, you have your bye week early on and I annoy the hell out of my family because I’m like, ‘No, we have to do this for lunch, we have to do this right now because when this is over I’m going like 11, 10 weeks straight.’ So, it was a little different having it in December where it was almost a little more relaxing because you’ve made so much of the season already and excited to get back now for the best time of the year in football.”

The Niners have done well in recent years after the bye week, winning their first game back in three straight seasons and five out of the last six. They play their first game back at home on Sunday against Tennessee (2-11) as they try to keep pace with Seattle (10-3) and the Los Angeles Rams (10-3) in the tough NFC West.

San Francisco plays three of its final four games at home. The Niners are in prime position to get back to the playoffs after missing it last season and are still in the running for a possible division title or even No. 1 seed if they get some help down the stretch.

While playing 13 straight weeks to start the season was grueling, they now get the benefit.

“When you look at the bye early in the year, you’re kind of dreading it. You got to go 13 straight or whatever it is,” McCaffrey said. “But now that it’s done and it’s happened at the end of the year and getting some guys back and getting healthy again, it’s a blessing in disguise.”

The 49ers will get kicker Eddy Pineiro back this week after he missed two games with a right hamstring injury but could still be without other key players, with linebacker Tatum Bethune and defensive end Sam Okuayinonu still sidelined by ankle injuries and linebacker Nick Martin in concussion protocol.

Fullback Kyle Juszczyk was able to practice on a limited basis after injuring his ribs before the bye week and defensive lineman Yetur Gross-Matos will have his practice window opened and could return from a hamstring injury that has sidelined him since Week 5.

Linebacker Eric Kendricks, who was recently signed to the practice squad, remains slowed by a calf injury.

Shanahan wasn't totally surprised about the Indianapolis Colts signing 44-year-old quarterback Philip Rivers nearly five years after he last played an NFL game.

Shanahan nearly did the same in the 2022 season. Shanahan called Rivers after Jimmy Garoppolo broke his foot in December of that season about the possibility of coming out of retirement and joining the Niners.

The 49ers didn't a need a starter right away because they wanted to see what rookie Brock Purdy could do, but had Rivers watch installations to get familiar with the system if Purdy ever got hurt.

Purdy helped lead San Francisco to the NFC title game before injuring his elbow in a loss to Philadelphia. The Niners were ready to give Rivers a chance had they beaten the Eagles that game and advanced to the Super Bowl.

"I would say he’s one of the few who would have a chance to do this,” Shanahan said about Rivers.

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San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) runs against Cleveland Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Trump administration announced plans Wednesday to add another militarized zone to the southern border — this time in California — as part of a major shift that has thrust troops into border enforcement with Mexico like never before.

The Department of Interior said it would transfer jurisdiction along most of California's border with Mexico to the Navy to reinforce “the historic role public lands have played in safeguarding national sovereignty."

The Interior Department described the newest national defense area in California as a high-traffic zone for unlawful crossings by immigrants. But Border Patrol arrests along the southern U.S. border this year have dropped to the slowest pace since the 1960s amid President Donald Trump’s push for mass deportations.

The move places long stretches of the border under the supervision of nearby military bases, empowering U.S. troops to detain people who enter the country illegally and sidestep a law prohibiting military involvement in civilian law enforcement. It is done under the authority of the national emergency on the border declared by Trump on his first day in office.

The military strategy was pioneered in April along a 170-mile (275-kilometer) stretch of the border in New Mexico and later expanded to portions of the border in Texas and Arizona.

The newly designated militarized zone extends nearly from the Arizona state line to the Otay Mountain Wilderness, traversing the Imperial Valley and border communities including the unincorporated community of Tecate, California, across the border from the Mexican city with the same name.

More than 7,000 troops have been deployed to the border, along with an assortment of helicopters, drones and surveillance equipment.

The zones allow U.S. troops to apprehend immigrants and others who are accused of trespassing on Army, Air Force or Navy bases. Those apprehended also could face additional criminal charges that can mean prison time.

U.S. authorities say the zones are needed to close gaps in border enforcement and help in the wider fight against human smuggling networks and brutal drug cartels.

“By working with the Navy to close long-standing security gaps, we are strengthening national defense, protecting our public lands from unlawful use, and advancing the President’s agenda,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a news release.

The new militarized zone was announced the same day a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to end the deployment of California National Guard troops in Los Angeles and return control of those troops to the state.

The state sued after Trump called up more than 4,000 California National Guard troops in June without Gov. Gavin Newsom’s approval to further the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.

FILE - Concertina wire lines the interior of a border wall separating Tijuana, Mexico, from the United States, June 4, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)