San Francisco running back Christian McCaffrey runs into the end zone for a touchdown against the Kansas City Chiefs during the first half of the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. George Walker IV/Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — The San Francisco 49ers opened up their bag of tricks to score the first touchdown in Super Bowl 58.
Receiver Jauan Jennings threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey to give San Francisco a 10-0 lead over the Kansas City Chiefs late in the first half Sunday.
Niners Coach Kyle Shanahan shies away from using too many trick plays, believing in the ability of his offense to deliver without them.
But he saved this one for one of the biggest moments of the season. With San Francisco facing second-and-10 from the Kansas City 21, Brock Purdy threw a quick lateral to Jennings on the left side.
Jennings immediately threw it back to the other side to McCaffrey, who had a convoy of blockers and ran in for a 21-yard TD.
The score was just the sixth TD pass thrown by a non-quarterback in Super Bowl history, with it happening three times in the past seven seasons.
Running back Joe Mixon threw the most recent one two years ago to Tee Higgins for Cincinnati against the Los Angeles Rams. Trey Burton had the famous “Philly Special” pass to Nick Foles at the end of the first half in Super Bowl 52 for Philadelphia against New England.
The other non-quarterbacks with a TD pass in the Super Bowl are Antwaan Randle El for Pittsburgh against Seattle in Super Bowl 40, Lawrence McCutcheon for the Rams against Pittsburgh in Super Bowl 14, and Robert Newhouse for Dallas against Denver in Super Bowl 12.
Jennings hadn’t thrown a pass in three seasons in the NFL. He threw five in college at Tennessee with two touchdowns.
McCaffrey tied an NFL record with his seventh straight playoff game with at least 50 yards from scrimmage and a TD. The only other players to do that are Marcus Allen, Terrell Davis, Leonard Fournette and John Riggins.
INJURIES: San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw went down with a freak Achilles tendon injury in the first half.
Greenlaw bounced up and down on the sideline and then started to run onto the field with a few teammates when he collapsed holding his left leg. He was then helped off in a cart. The 49ers ruled Greenlaw out for the rest of the game.
Later, with 9:10 remaining in the third quarter, Deebo Samuel injured his hamstring. But San Francisco’s standout receiver was able to walk off under his own power and quickly came back into the game.
Greenlaw started all 15 games he played this season and was the team’s second-leading tackler. He’s in his fifth NFL season, all with San Francisco.
He was credited with three assisted tackles before his injury.
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