(KRON) — The San Francisco 49ers continue to march toward a possible Super Bowl appearance after defeating the Green Bay Packers in the NFC divisional matchup on Saturday. In that game, star wide receiver Deebo Samuel was ruled out of playing the second half after suffering a shoulder injury.
Samuel did not practice Wednesday, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said in an update.
Without disclosing more information on the nature of the injury, the coach simply said that Samuel’s “shoulder hurts.” Whether Samuel will be healthy to return Sunday in the 49ers-Lions NFC championship game remains up in the air.
The rest of the team would participate in full during Wednesday’s practice, Shanahan said.
In a previous update Monday, Shanahan said that Samuel was in a lot of pain, however, imaging showed that his shoulder was not broken.
In the first quarter of the 49ers-Packers game, Samuel was evaluated for a head injury after going down hard on a 9-yard reception. He was cleared and reentered the game before exiting again with the shoulder injury.
This upcoming Sunday, the 49ers are back at Levi’s Stadium to play in the team’s third straight NFC championship appearance. San Francisco lost the past two seasons on the road to the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles. This season, the Niners will need to wrangle the Detroit Lions, who are making only their second appearance in a conference game.
San Francisco holds a record 19 appearances in the conference title game. However, they have been a hit-or-miss team over the past two decades. They have had only seven winning records in the past 21 seasons — tied for the 22nd most — but made the NFC title game in each of those seasons for the second-most appearances in that span.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
