49ers’ McCaffrey: ‘Zero’ chance he’s not playing

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — For the second straight day, San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey sat out of practice Thursday as he works back from a bruised calf.

And while McCaffrey isn’t slated to participate in the Niners’ Thursday practice, he did speak to the media and offered a simple answer when asked if there was any chance he won’t play in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

“Zero,” McCaffrey said.

McCaffrey suffered the injury in last week’s 19-12 NFC divisional round victory over the Dallas Cowboys but came out of the game saying that he felt like he was fine. Coach Kyle Shanahan said Wednesday that he expected McCaffrey and other injured Niners to play but didn’t want to make any guarantees.

Asked whether his concerns for McCaffrey’s availability had changed with McCaffrey not practicing on Thursday, Shanahan said he has the “same concerns that I had yesterday.”

McCaffrey said he will go through mostly the same routine he would in a normal practice week, including walk-throughs, as he recovers from the calf issue.

“It’s the same process, just lowering a little bit of the physical load,” McCaffrey said.

Elsewhere on the injury report, running back Elijah Mitchell (groin) is also didn’t practice on Thursday. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo also remains out of the mix.

Receiver Deebo Samuel (ankle), cornerback Ambry Thomas (ankle) and defensive lineman Charles Omenihu (oblique) were limited in practice.

Shanahan said Wednesday he expected those on the injury report not named Garoppolo to be available against the Eagles, though he said he made no guarantees on any of them.