San Francisco 49ers injury news: NaVorro Bowman out for rest of the season

Already struggling this season, the San Francisco 49ers have taken a huge hit as NaVorro Bowman is out for the season due to an injury.

Undoubtedly one of the team's leaders, Bowman was injured in the Week 4 battle against the Dallas Cowboys and many speculated on just how bad the injury may have been. The game eventually ended with a 24–17 loss for the Niners, but fans were interested in Bowman's health.

Unfortunately the fears were confirmed when magnetic resonance imaging revealed an injured Achilles tendon. Now, the team is expected to put Bowman on injured reserve for the rest of the season.

Aaron Lynch is set to take his place as he is returning from a four-game suspension, but Bowman will definitely be missed on the field.

Lynch revealed just how important Bowman is to the club. He was quoted by ESPN saying, "We hope he comes back healthy, takes as long as he needs to take. But he was one of the leaders of our defense. Everybody knows who NaVorro Bowman is, so he's always one of the guys on the field that they game plan to -- so losing him on the defense, it's horrible. As far as our mindset, it's not going to change. We're going to miss him, but now we've got to just go play for him."

The injury now gives even a grimmer season for the Niners, who are now at 1–3 and have to face the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday night Football.

They are third in the National Football Conference (NFC) West at the moment and the battle against the Cardinals will determine who slips down to the fourth spot in the cluster.

San Francisco have had it difficult as they lost a lot of key players to trades and now do not have an All-Pro left back to provide leadership in the defensive end.

Many reports say that the Niners will have an even tougher season, and it may be possible that they use the time to build more team morale and win all they could to prepare for the future.