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The San Francisco 49ers went into Sunday's game against the Seahawks in a relatively healthy state, but now they head into their offseason with a pair of notable injuries. After the game, Jim Harbaugh said preliminary reports indicated left guard Mike Iupati fractured his ankle, and linebacker NaVorro Bowman had suffered a torn ACL.
Iupati's injury came on Anthony Dixon's goal line dive to put the team up 10-0. Someone rolled up Iupati's leg and the ankle gave way. He was helped off the field and then carted to the locker room for x-rays. We'll have more on the timeline, but as long as it was a clean break, he'll have plenty of time to get back to 100 percent for next season.
Bowman's injury came late in the game, as the Seahawks were close to scoring. Bowman basically ripped the ball out of the hands of Jermaine Kearse, but as he did so, I believe it was Kearse who came down on Bo's leg. Bowman's knee bent in a way knees shouldn't bend, and it was pretty evident it was bad. To add salt to the wound, the play was ruled Kearse down, and was not reviewable. The 49ers still had their chances after that, but it was another in a long line of bad calls.
If you really need to see the knee bending, it's all over the Internet, but I have no interest in posting it here.
Bowman's ACL tear will take him all offseason to rehab, and odds are it could lead into next season. The most notable ACL return was that of Adrian Peterson. He injured his the final week of the season a couple years back, and returned to have a dominant season. Bowman's injury is happening three weeks after the timing of AP's injury, so this could carry into next season. We'll see as the offseason progresses.
And in case you missed it, Seahawks fans were apparently throwing some stuff at Bowman as he was being carted off. So, if you needed one more reason to hate the Seahawks, there ya go. Every fan base has bad fans, but this is just ridiculous.
Patrick Willis met with the media after the game, and had a couple of comments:
Patrick Willis vowed to aid @NBowman53 on his recovery. "I'll be with him every step of the way."
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) January 20, 2014
Willis on @NBowman53 injury: "The bond that we have is so much deeper than the game we play."
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) January 20, 2014