The 49ers lose Brandon Aiyuk to a serious knee injury after bringing back Ricky Pearsall

The emotional surge of Ricky Pearsall's return to the field 50 days after he was shot lasted less than half an hour. Then the San Francisco 49ers had to deal with more bad news at receiver.

Brandon Aiyuk suffered a right knee injury in Sunday's 28-18 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs that coach Kyle Shanahan fears is a season-ending ACL tear.

Shanahan said the team is awaiting confirmation from an MRI scheduled for Monday, but Aiyuk is expected to miss the rest of the season, the latest injury setback against a San Francisco team already headed to the All-Pro. Running back Christian McCaffrey and other key players waived players.

“I know a lot of teams are struggling with this,” Shanahan said of the spate of injuries. “Not every team, but we are struggling hard with it at the moment. Today things have gotten even worse. It’s hard.”

Aiyuk was injured late in the first half when he was hit in the knee after a catch in the red zone. He lay there for a few minutes before being carried to the locker room and was quickly eliminated for the rest of the game.

Aiyuk, who signed a four-year, $120 million contract extension in late August after a lengthy contract extension, has 25 catches for 374 yards this season. He was second-team All-Pro last season when he had 1,342 receiving yards.

San Francisco was already without two of its other top receivers: Jauan Jennings was sidelined with a hip injury that isn't expected to be permanent, and Deebo Samuel dealt with an illness that limited him to four snaps against Kansas City.

That placed more responsibility on Pearsall, who was taken off the non-football injured list on Saturday. Pearsall made his first play on San Francisco's first drive and caught his first career pass late in the second quarter. He finished the game with three catches for 21 yards.

“It would be a little easier for him today,” Shanahan said. “That changed a little bit with Deebo leaving, and a lot changed with Aiyuk leaving. So today he had to do more than we expected and I was proud of him for handling that. It’s great to have him back.”

Pearsall returned to practice last Monday for the first time since he was shot in the chest on August 31 in the Union Square area of ​​San Francisco. He was hospitalized overnight but escaped organ and nerve damage and returned to training at the team facility the following week.

Pearsall, drafted in the first round in April, missed most of training camp due to hamstring and shoulder injuries but was on track to be ready for the opener before he was shot.

He began his college career at Arizona State and transferred to Florida for his final two seasons. He had 65 catches for 965 yards and four touchdowns last season for the Gators and finished his college career with 159 catches for 2,420 yards and 14 touchdowns.

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