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I’m thinking about all the times Fred Warner was the one who had to talk about a fallen teammate and friend after a calamitous loss, and it was Warner who had to try to bind the emotional wounds and lead the way forward.

I’m thinking about his sad and passionate words after Brock Purdy was knocked out and the 49ers lost the January 2023 NFC Championship Game. I’m thinking about Warner continuing on — playing with a fractured bone of his own — through the injury ravages of last season. I’m thinking about Warner just a few weeks ago, sounding as optimistic as possible after Nick Bosa was lost for the season.

I have to admit I almost was waiting for Warner to get up to the podium on Sunday — after Kyle Shanahan, Mac Jones, and Christian McCaffrey — because that’s what always happens after a 49ers game. The leaders talk. Which means Warner talks.

But not on Sunday. Not for many Sundays. Which just seems impossible if you’ve been around the 49ers at all over the years.

Other 49ers stars and starters have been lost to injury, then came back. But Warner was the constant leader, speechmaker, playmaker, and larger-than-life force of the defense and the entire team. Always there. Always up front. And always leading.

Now, Warner is out for the season after dislocating his ankle and probably breaking a bone in the first quarter of the 49ers’ eventual 30-19 loss in Tampa, Fla., on Sunday.

And the 49ers face not only the loss of Warner on the field — and he was obviously already missed against Baker Mayfield & Co. on Sunday — but also the loss of his presence in the locker room, his words at the podium, and just his essential 49ers omnipresence.

What are the 49ers when they don’t have Fred Warner in uniform? I honestly don’t know; he was drafted in 2018 and it feels like he’s been here for 30 seasons, not just eight.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Christian McCaffrey told reporters when asked about the loss of Warner. “He’s one of the best players I’ve ever played with and one of the best leaders I’ve ever played with.”

Another sign of the significance of this moment: Warner stayed in the locker room through the game, spoke to the team afterward, and broke down the team huddle.

I’ve never heard of another seriously injured player doing this just hours after suffering the injury — and certainly not somebody lost for the year — but if any player was going to do it, of course, it had to be Warner, in the darkest moment, when all hope and light seemed to be burning away.

It had to be Warner trying to lead the way forward from his own fall.

Can the 49ers survive without him, after losing Bosa already, while they’re still waiting for Purdy, George Kittle, and Brandon Aiyuk to come back, and things seem weird between Jauan Jennings and Shanahan? And knowing that they surely will suffer more injuries every week?

The season is not over, of course. There are still 11 games left to play. There is still a trade deadline to maneuver through.

The 49ers (4-2) are still in first place in the NFC West with victories in hand against all three other division teams. They’ve played well enough to know they still can make the postseason. They will keep playing. They must keep playing. There are still things to accomplish.

But losing Warner means that the shape of the season is unalterably changed. Even more than after the loss of Bosa. Even more than losing Kittle and Purdy combined for several weeks early this season.

If any comparison can be made, I’d say that losing Warner in 2025 is most like the absence of McCaffrey for most of 2024 — it just changes the way the 49ers play and how they feel about themselves.

And yes, that means the 49ers could be facing another Season from Hell, which seems unfair to occur in back-to-back years. But it also gives them a chance to fight through this in a far hardier way than they did last year.

Shanahan and the team leaders were vastly disappointed with what happened in 2024 — the injuries were devastating, but the team just fell apart at the end. It still could’ve been a 9-8 or 8-9 season. Instead, they went 6-11. And they promised that this would never happen again.

But now they’ll have to beat back the tide without Warner. He’ll be around, though, like he was after Sunday’s game. He’ll be heard. Injured players have a limited effect on games and their teammates, but I’m sure Warner will maximize the role.

Practically, I think the main result is that the 49ers understandably will be even more reluctant to give up premium draft choices at the deadline to bolster their roster. That would be sensible if they knew they were one player away from a Super Bowl run — like Trey Hendrickson to replace Bosa.

But there’s nobody who can come close to replacing Warner and without Warner the 49ers won’t be a Super Bowl defense. They’re best-off keeping their draft picks to use for new potential stars and plugging backup Tatum Bethune into the spot and living with it, like they lived with him missing on a few plays Sunday.

Could the 49ers maybe think about selling off some excess assets? I think that’s possible. Not probable, but it’s an option.

If they lose a few games — starting with a home game against Atlanta on Sunday then road games in Houston and at the New York Giants right before the deadline — then I could see the 49ers considering moving a few players who aren’t in the plans for 2026.

I don’t expect Jennings to be a 49er next season, once he hits free agency next spring, and the flare-up with Shanahan on Sunday only underlines that thought. Could the 49ers get anything for him if they lose a few games?

What about Ji’Ayir Brown, who was suddenly plopped into the starting lineup on Sunday after going several weeks as a backup? Hey, what about Mac Jones, who threw two interceptions but was under fire all game and otherwise continued to look good enough to start somewhere?

Maybe the 49ers will have some options.

But I don’t expect the 49ers to do any kind of fire sale, I don’t think any of those players would get them much, anyway, and they definitely wouldn’t want to go down this road.

They don’t want to be done by early November. They want to be better and tougher than they were last year. They want to stay in the playoff race and maybe make some noise in January.

They want to play like Fred Warner would want them to play, would demand of them, and the best way to honor him is to do all this without him.