# Larry Kruger on 49ers Improving, Struggles Against Macdonald, CMC

An episode of [Softy & Dick Interviews](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1245866571), 8 Oct 2026, 14 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/98a2599f-cd9b-4f2a-9be4-b22c00e585f2/907d6469-cef5-4bda-9f13-b2f100f49399/78410a9b-1216-4daa-89e6-b4dd001ab5e5/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=26b16ce4-8fab-44ea-88d4-b2f100f493bc

Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain speak with Larry Kruger about how the 49ers have improved since last season, why they have struggled against Mike Macdonald, how they have kept Christian McCaffrey fresh this year and how he believes the 49ers will beat the Seahawks. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Now back to Softie and Dick, brought to you by
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[0:20] Speaker 2: All right, we're back on a busy Wednesday. Don't forget
[0:22] Speaker 2: tomorrow from the 520 Bar and Grill, Rick Neuheisel, 320,
[0:26] Speaker 2: courtesy of Taco Time, Mike Holmgren, courtesy of Venue Kings
[0:29] Speaker 2: at 4, from the 520 Bar and Grill tomorrow. You're
[0:32] Speaker 2: looking for Seahawk Niner tickets, by the way, on Sunday.
[0:36] Speaker 2: Get to VenueKings.com and use code Mike at checkout for
[0:39] Speaker 2: a discount. All right, let's do it. Let's get a
[0:42] Speaker 2: little bit of a preview from behind enemy lines. Our
[0:45] Speaker 2: friend from KNBR, The Krug Show on YouTube in San Francisco.
[0:49] Speaker 2: He's a big deal, baby. Larry Kruger with us right now.
[0:53] Speaker 3: Larry, where are you? How are you? What's going on?
[0:56] Speaker 3: You know, I'm actually in the stadium at Levi's Stadium
[0:58] Speaker 3: right now. So you guys are truly going behind enemy
[1:02] Speaker 3: lines with this segment.
[1:03] Speaker 2: Wow. Well, there's a substation nearby, so be careful. We
[1:06] Speaker 2: don't want you walking away with any kind of disease
[1:08] Speaker 2: or whatever. So be careful while you're out there, man.
[1:11] Speaker 2: But let's talk about this, right? This is a 49er
[1:13] Speaker 2: football team that's off to a hot start. But the
[1:17] Speaker 2: last two times they've played the Seahawks and Mike McDonald,
[1:19] Speaker 2: they've scored nine points, have not scored a touchdown in
[1:23] Speaker 2: eight quarters. I'm assuming that this is going to be
[1:26] Speaker 2: a little bit of a barometer to see actually how
[1:29] Speaker 2: far this Niner team has come since that loss to
[1:32] Speaker 2: the Hawks in the and the playoffs last year, this
[1:35] Speaker 2: game on Sunday, huh?
[1:37] Speaker 3: Well, no doubt, Dave. I mean, come on. It's all,
[1:39] Speaker 3: you know, when the Niners, you know, I mean, they
[1:41] Speaker 3: have their own standard, but right now the standard is
[1:44] Speaker 3: being set by you guys. And, you know, they can
[1:47] Speaker 3: find out where they stand and how much they've improved
[1:50] Speaker 3: and how real their improvement is. Is the Niner offensive
[1:53] Speaker 3: line improved or, you know, are they going to have
[1:57] Speaker 3: their lunch handed to them like Murphy and Williams did
[2:00] Speaker 3: last year, you know? I think one of the big
[2:02] Speaker 3: questions that I'd love to know before Sunday is, is
[2:05] Speaker 3: Williams going to go? Because I think he's that vitally
[2:08] Speaker 3: important to what they do. And then I just think
[2:12] Speaker 3: there's also, if you look at the list of Niners
[2:14] Speaker 3: that didn't play in that game that are going to
[2:16] Speaker 3: play in this game, I mean, 49ers are going to
[2:18] Speaker 3: be a whole lot better than they were last time around.
[2:22] Speaker 4: Let's talk Brock Purdy. I mean, he's number two in
[2:25] Speaker 4: the MVP voting right now after the first month of
[2:27] Speaker 4: the season, or the MVP odds, rather. Why has he
[2:29] Speaker 4: been so good? And then on the flip side, why
[2:32] Speaker 4: has he struggled so much against Mike McDonald? He's played
[2:35] Speaker 4: him six times.
[2:36] Speaker 2: He's two and four.
[2:37] Speaker 4: He's got six touchdowns, nine interceptions with a passer rating
[2:40] Speaker 4: of 75.
[2:40] Speaker 3: You know, it's a great question. I mean, you know,
[2:45] Speaker 3: first of all, Purdy's gotten better because he's now in
[2:48] Speaker 3: like what we'd call kind of the super prime, right?
[2:51] Speaker 3: This is year five. He's very comfortable. He's had injuries.
[2:56] Speaker 3: He's had rehabilitation. He knows the offense like the back
[2:59] Speaker 3: of his hand. He can teach it. But why does
[3:01] Speaker 3: he struggle against McDonald? I mean, it's a great question.
[3:05] Speaker 3: I mean, I think you've got to give McDonald some credit.
[3:08] Speaker 3: I think he disguises blitz as well. I think his
[3:10] Speaker 3: matchup zone is very, very, very good. And a lot
[3:13] Speaker 3: of it's about the personnel. They've had just better personnel.
[3:17] Speaker 3: The Seahawks have a lot of length and a lot
[3:18] Speaker 3: of speed on their defense, and the whole defensive thought,
[3:22] Speaker 3: no matter what scheme we're talking about, is you've got
[3:25] Speaker 3: to close space, and they close space with the best
[3:27] Speaker 3: teams in the league.
[3:29] Speaker 2: Well, Larry Krueger's with us, and Larry, just kind of
[3:32] Speaker 2: picking up on, first of all, the Leonard Williams thing.
[3:34] Speaker 2: I think he's going to play on Sunday. Mike has
[3:36] Speaker 2: been talking about that all week. He's got an ankle injury,
[3:39] Speaker 2: but I think optimistic he'll go on Sunday. We'll see there.
[3:42] Speaker 2: And then number two, how much, you know, for lack
[3:45] Speaker 2: of a better question, and it's hard to know because
[3:47] Speaker 2: we're not in Kyle Shanahan's head. how much does he
[3:50] Speaker 2: look at Mike McDonald and just think about him and
[3:53] Speaker 2: his nightmares, right? Like, uh, does he, does he go
[3:55] Speaker 2: home and have a picture of Mike McDonald on his
[3:58] Speaker 2: vanity mirror in his bathroom? The way, uh, you know,
[4:01] Speaker 2: Rocky had Ivan Drago up on his mirror back in
[4:04] Speaker 2: Rocky four. How much of a, uh, of a problem
[4:07] Speaker 2: has this been, you think for Kyle Shanahan to get
[4:09] Speaker 2: over this, uh, this battle with Mike McDonald?
[4:11] Speaker 3: You know, that's a great question. Kyle's like, way too
[4:15] Speaker 3: cool of a guy kind of to like ever tell
[4:18] Speaker 3: you really that he's obsessed with any, any, anything, right.
[4:22] Speaker 3: You know, uh, he's his own man and does his
[4:24] Speaker 3: own thing, but you wonder about that, you know, cause,
[4:27] Speaker 3: cause McDonald seems like he is in his head, especially
[4:30] Speaker 3: going back to that Ravens game on Christmas a few
[4:32] Speaker 3: years ago, where the Niners came out and they love
[4:35] Speaker 3: to run their condensed sets and McDonald just dropped really
[4:39] Speaker 3: good defensive players into the middle of the field into
[4:41] Speaker 3: like a zone and kind of muddied the picture for
[4:44] Speaker 3: Brock Purdy I mean Brock Purdy is a he's got
[4:46] Speaker 3: stones man he'll throw it in the middle of the
[4:49] Speaker 3: field but takes chances with the football and you know
[4:52] Speaker 3: what's been the key to Brock Purdy this year he's
[4:54] Speaker 3: eliminated the turnovers you know he's you know if he
[4:57] Speaker 3: doesn't turn it over you're talking about a guy who's
[4:59] Speaker 3: really tough to beat.
[5:01] Speaker 4: So Christian McCaffrey's only carried on average 12.5 times a
[5:04] Speaker 4: game thus far this year. Is that by design, or
[5:08] Speaker 4: is that because the Niners have been ahead by double
[5:11] Speaker 4: digits most of every game they've played this year, so
[5:14] Speaker 4: they haven't needed Christian McCaffrey?
[5:16] Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, for you guys who own Christian McCaffrey
[5:19] Speaker 3: in fantasy, you're screwed. Because this is the plan. He
[5:24] Speaker 3: had 450-plus touches last year. 450! 450! I mean, that's
[5:32] Speaker 3: a ton. So they had, you know, in the last
[5:35] Speaker 3: two years after he had 400 plus touches in the past,
[5:39] Speaker 3: he's played three games and four games. So, you know,
[5:43] Speaker 3: they want to ease that burden and they drafted Kalon
[5:46] Speaker 3: Black for a reason. They believe in Black. He's very smart.
[5:49] Speaker 3: He'll block. He'll take it up in there hard. So
[5:52] Speaker 3: they're going to use him a little bit. And then,
[5:54] Speaker 3: of course, they got Jordan James from Oregon as well.
[5:57] Speaker 3: We can do some things. But it's going to be
[6:00] Speaker 3: a split deal all year.
[6:02] Speaker 2: Well, Larry Kruger's with us on the radio show. KNBR
[6:04] Speaker 2: does a big Niners podcast down there as well. We'll
[6:07] Speaker 2: give Larry a chance to promote that podcast on KNBR.
[6:09] Speaker 2: our show and increases ratings fivefold, by the way, in
[6:11] Speaker 2: his download numbers. But Larry, I got to be honest
[6:14] Speaker 2: with you. You're not the normal big mouth self that
[6:16] Speaker 2: you normally are on this show. We had you on
[6:18] Speaker 2: the air from the Ox Hall, you know, before the
[6:20] Speaker 2: playoff game, you're running your mouth about the Niners doing this,
[6:23] Speaker 2: Niners doing that. And you seem a little reserved right now.
[6:26] Speaker 3: What's up? Well, you know, I don't know, but I
[6:30] Speaker 3: do think 49ers are going to win this game. I
[6:32] Speaker 3: think the 49ers team right now, Um, and you know, maybe, uh,
[6:37] Speaker 3: you know, I just, I think people here have proper
[6:39] Speaker 3: respect for the Seahawks or the Superbowl champions and that,
[6:45] Speaker 3: you know, that, that Mike McDonald has a defense that
[6:48] Speaker 3: has Kyle Shanahan's number, but do you really believe it's
[6:51] Speaker 3: about the X's and O's or do you believe it's
[6:53] Speaker 3: about the players?
[6:55] Speaker 2: You're asking us?
[6:58] Speaker 3: Yeah, what do you guys think?
[6:59] Speaker 4: Well, I mean, Seahawks have the best wide receiver in
[7:02] Speaker 4: football who hasn't been able to been stopped yet. And
[7:03] Speaker 4: I'm wondering how the 49ers address that when it is
[7:07] Speaker 4: really the numbers say they've really struggled to get after
[7:10] Speaker 4: the quarterback. Is that is reality is that they've struggled
[7:13] Speaker 4: to get out the quarterback or is it just the
[7:15] Speaker 4: sack numbers are low?
[7:18] Speaker 3: Have like 50 some odd pressures. So they actually been
[7:22] Speaker 3: done an incredible job of pressuring the quarterback. They haven't
[7:24] Speaker 3: been able to sack the quarterback, but Raheem Morris has
[7:28] Speaker 3: been magical. And in all the, the fact that you
[7:31] Speaker 3: get 50 pressures after, you know, out of basically a
[7:34] Speaker 3: practice squad line is amazing.
[7:36] Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
[7:36] Speaker 2: Well, you ask about the scheme versus Jimmy's and Joe's,
[7:39] Speaker 2: and I'll tell you that I think in Seattle, it's
[7:40] Speaker 2: a lot about the scheme because of Mike McDonald. I mean,
[7:43] Speaker 2: you think about the guys on this defensive side of
[7:45] Speaker 2: the ball, you know, Julian Love, Devin Witherspoon, Leonard Williams,
[7:49] Speaker 2: Ernest Jones. I mean, some of them would be stars
[7:51] Speaker 2: on their own right. playing for anybody else, but I
[7:53] Speaker 2: think the scheme has turned a lot of these guys
[7:55] Speaker 2: into much bigger names. I mean, look at where Leonard
[7:57] Speaker 2: Williams is now versus when he was with the Jets
[8:00] Speaker 2: and Giants. Look at where Ernest Jones is now versus
[8:02] Speaker 2: where he was with the Rams and the Titans. Julian
[8:06] Speaker 2: Love with the Giants. Same thing comes to Seattle. They're
[8:08] Speaker 2: different players. I do think the scheme is the star
[8:11] Speaker 2: for the most part up here in Seattle. But, you know,
[8:14] Speaker 2: do you sense that, you know, the Niner fans are
[8:16] Speaker 2: that confident too about this? Or do they see a
[8:18] Speaker 2: football team that scored, you know, nine points in two
[8:22] Speaker 2: games and they're on edge about this thing on Sunday?
[8:25] Speaker 3: Oh, they're definitely on. Dave, are they on edge? Yeah. What? Yeah,
[8:29] Speaker 3: they are on edge.
[8:30] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
[8:31] Speaker 3: They are definitely on edge. But, you know, here's the thing.
[8:34] Speaker 3: They also have right now– one of the best coaches
[8:38] Speaker 3: in pro football and Kyle Shanahan. It feels like he's
[8:41] Speaker 3: in his bag. Uh, they have collectively the best coaching staff.
[8:45] Speaker 3: I think they've had here under Shanahan because Raheem's added
[8:48] Speaker 3: that much and they're really good and they're decent on
[8:50] Speaker 3: special teams now. So, Um, you know, I, I do
[8:53] Speaker 3: think this, and they got a quarterback that's the MVP
[8:56] Speaker 3: of the league and playing with exceptional confidence. So it's
[9:00] Speaker 3: going to be, I can't wait for it. It's going
[9:01] Speaker 3: to be the number one offense DVO way against the
[9:03] Speaker 3: number one defense DVO way, kind of an all encompassing stat.
[9:07] Speaker 3: And I think it's going to be, you know, this,
[9:09] Speaker 3: what I can't believe this thing's not Monday night football,
[9:13] Speaker 3: Sunday night football.
[9:14] Speaker 4: Larry, before we let you go, I'm interested to get
[9:16] Speaker 4: your take on which team needs this more. Now, obviously, statistically, win-loss,
[9:22] Speaker 4: it looks like Seattle needs to win it more because
[9:24] Speaker 4: it's a home game and they're already one game behind
[9:26] Speaker 4: the Niners. But to your point on can the 49ers
[9:30] Speaker 4: get over the Seahawks hump, maybe it's the Niners that
[9:34] Speaker 4: need to win this game more just to prove that
[9:35] Speaker 4: they can get over the Seahawks.
[9:40] Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, practically the Seahawks
[9:43] Speaker 3: need it more. The Niners get the win. They're 3-0
[9:47] Speaker 3: in the division with wins over all three teams. And
[9:51] Speaker 3: they're 5-0. But there's an emotional side of this thing
[9:55] Speaker 3: as well. And Dave named the three, the linebacker Love
[10:00] Speaker 3: and Williams. Those guys are not just great acquisitions by Schneider.
[10:05] Speaker 3: They've been absolute dominance against the 49ers. I mean, Love's
[10:08] Speaker 3: played like Ronnie Lott against the Niners. So the Niners
[10:12] Speaker 3: need this one. The Niners need this one. They need
[10:14] Speaker 3: to show, I think Shanahan offensively, If they can't score
[10:19] Speaker 3: a touchdown, this will be absolute. I mean, let's just
[10:26] Speaker 3: say we'll get lots of views next week. The Krug
[10:30] Speaker 3: show on YouTube will blow up and the show and
[10:33] Speaker 3: KMBR will blow up because people lose their minds if
[10:37] Speaker 3: they don't score a touchdown. but I really think 49ers
[10:39] Speaker 3: are going to go there and win the game. I
[10:41] Speaker 3: don't think Seattle is a tough place to play early
[10:43] Speaker 3: in the year, middle of the day. Niners won up
[10:46] Speaker 3: there last year in the same situation. And I think
[10:49] Speaker 3: they'll win again. I mean, I don't, I don't like price,
[10:52] Speaker 3: you know, the fact that price didn't do what I
[10:54] Speaker 3: thought he was going to do. And now he's hurt.
[10:56] Speaker 3: And the safety thing that you guys have is kind
[10:57] Speaker 3: of a circus and Seattle hasn't quite looked like Seattle.
[11:01] Speaker 3: I don't think Donald has looked that sharp, um, And
[11:04] Speaker 3: I think 49ers are just playing better ball. I think
[11:06] Speaker 3: they're going to win. There it is.
[11:07] Speaker 2: There's the big mouth. There's the guy running his pie
[11:09] Speaker 2: hole that we were waiting for.
[11:11] Speaker 4: It only took us 20 minutes to get there.
[11:12] Speaker 2: Took a while, but we got it out of you, man.
[11:14] Speaker 2: I love it. Well, let me ask you this before
[11:16] Speaker 2: you go. Last one quickly. There's going to be a
[11:18] Speaker 2: bunch of guys that are back for the Niners. Larry,
[11:20] Speaker 2: that did not play in the divisional game. Kittle, Fred Warner, Greenlaw,
[11:23] Speaker 2: Mike Evans, Debo, among them. What player do you think
[11:27] Speaker 2: will have the biggest impact in this game and swing
[11:30] Speaker 2: the balance towards San Francisco that was not available in
[11:33] Speaker 2: that playoff game?
[11:34] Speaker 3: Debo. Debo. And Warner. I mean, come on. Warner right
[11:39] Speaker 3: now is... Warner had a 17 tackle game. Greenlaw is
[11:44] Speaker 3: just going to knock somebody out. So get ready for that.
[11:47] Speaker 3: He's just literally the most physical guy there is. And
[11:51] Speaker 3: he's just... He's on the warpath right now. It'll be
[11:53] Speaker 3: interesting to see how much the Niners take him off
[11:56] Speaker 3: the field in certain situations in the dime and nickel.
[12:00] Speaker 3: We'll see what Raheem does. But Warner on defense and
[12:04] Speaker 3: Debo on offense. Debo has owned the Seahawks. He's got
[12:07] Speaker 3: like nine touchdowns career against them. He always makes big,
[12:10] Speaker 3: big plays and they've been utilizing him as a runner.
[12:13] Speaker 3: And I could see them running. I could see him
[12:15] Speaker 3: on an end around or reverse. you know, 30, 40
[12:19] Speaker 3: yard game set up, you know, set up a score.
[12:21] Speaker 2: I love it. Well, if that doesn't happen, if the
[12:23] Speaker 2: Hawks win this game and the Niners struggle, you've given
[12:26] Speaker 2: us a lot of material for Monday show. I can
[12:28] Speaker 2: tell you that right now. And if the Niners come
[12:30] Speaker 2: up here and win the game, we'll just forget the
[12:32] Speaker 2: interview ever happened. Uh, Larry, great stuff. Uh, Hey, tell
[12:36] Speaker 2: people what you're doing, where they can find you, by
[12:37] Speaker 2: the way.
[12:39] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[12:39] Speaker 3: Hey, uh, the crude show on YouTube. There you go. 70,
[12:41] Speaker 3: 75,000 or 70,000 subs. And, um, Oh, just growing all
[12:47] Speaker 3: the time. I mean, it's, we have 3 million views
[12:50] Speaker 3: last month. Uh, we do all Niners stuff pretty much
[12:53] Speaker 3: these days. I do some giants and warriors, but those
[12:55] Speaker 3: teams kind of bore me. I kind of challenged them to, uh,
[12:59] Speaker 3: you know, to do something interesting. You know, it's been
[13:01] Speaker 3: kind of snooze. It's been a snooze for the warriors
[13:04] Speaker 3: and giants last couple of years, but it's mostly Niners and, And,
[13:07] Speaker 3: you know, it's a lot of good stuff. And then,
[13:09] Speaker 3: of course, you can hear me on KMBR every day, basically.
[13:12] Speaker 3: I'm on KMBR basically seven days a week.
[13:14] Speaker 1: I love it.
[13:14] Speaker 3: 680 on the AM dial and 104.5 on the FM dial.
[13:17] Speaker 2: I didn't realize you're such a big deal. Man, holy moly.
[13:20] Speaker 2: Great stuff, dude. Thank you for gracing us with your presence.
[13:23] Speaker 2: We'll talk soon. You're the best, Larry.
[13:25] Speaker 3: Thanks, man.
[13:25] Speaker 1: Thanks, man.
[13:26] Speaker 2: Thanks, fellas.
[13:27] Speaker 3: Have a good one.
[13:27] Speaker 2: All right, Larry Kruger with us on the air. I mean,
[13:29] Speaker 2: I tell you what, he's right. The Niners are playing
[13:32] Speaker 2: good football, but they were playing great football last year
[13:35] Speaker 2: before they played the Seahawks in Week 18. They were
[13:37] Speaker 2: just destroying people, and then they ran into a buzzsaw
[13:40] Speaker 2: called the dark side defense in the Seahawks. So we'll see.
[13:43] Speaker 2: We're going to break. Mike Florio, we're going to get
[13:44] Speaker 2: Mike's take right on this thing coming up about 640.
[13:46] Speaker 2: Tonight we continue on a busy Wednesday right here on
[13:49] Speaker 2: 93.3 KJRFM.

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