Christian McCaffrey's return from injury was a successful one, with the San Francisco 49ers pulling out a 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to improve to 5-4.

But it was a long and undulating journey for the 49ers to get to that point, one featuring a plethora of errors from the reigning NFC champions.

Special teams was the biggest issue for the 49ers, with Jake Moody's three missed field goals leading to a sideline scuffle with Deebo Samuel, and returner Jacob Cowing's muffed punt setting up a touchdown for the Buccaneers. 

The offense continued to struggle in the red zone even with McCaffrey back in the lineup, the 49ers' going one for three inside the 20. The defense, meanwhile, struggled to get a consistent pass rush and was flagged for four penalties on the drive that saw the Buccaneers tie the game at 20-20.

Though Moody recovered to turn what had been a nightmare day around by kicking the game-winner as time expired, it's clear the 49ers have a lot of things to fix, and McCaffrey concisely summed up their problems in his postgame press conference.

Asked about quarterback Brock Purdy's game-winning drive, McCaffrey said: "We had some adversity that game and I think we're all wanting to put together a full unit game, but doesn't always go that way. And so for him to win it for us at the end, for Jauan [Jennings] to be able to come back as well and make some big plays is huge for us. So yeah, Brock, that's just what Brock does."

McCaffrey is on the money when he references the lack of a "full unit game". The Week 1 win over the New York Jets is the closest the 49ers have played to a complete game, with their performances since marred by struggles to finish games and persistent failings in key areas, most notably on special teams and in the red zone on offense.

The optimistic way of looking at it is that the 49ers are in position to make a run without having played their best football.

But the longer the 49ers go without producing their best, the more concerns will grow. With a tough divisional game against the Seattle Seahawks on the horizon next week ahead of very tough road games with the Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills, the 49ers need to rediscover their standard sooner rather than later.

Getting McCaffrey back from the Achilles injury that robbed him of the first eight games will only help, especially as he knocks the rust off after finishing with 107 yards from scrimmage against Tampa Bay.

"That’s the third time I’ve had pads on in eight weeks so, just getting back into a groove," explained McCaffrey. 

"That was really good for me to do. I think there’s a couple of things that, maybe I didn’t feel like myself 100%, but that’s normal when you haven’t played in a long time, and I’ll learn and grow from those and keep trucking along."

Nick Bosa offers slightly concerning update on injury that clearly hampered him during 49ers’ win over Bucs

He’ll likely have a light week of practice.