Tag: Kyle Shanahan

49ers biggest cause for concern vs. Packers is familiar flaw in 2024

The Packers biggest strength this year is one of the 49ers biggest weaknesses.

Finding one clear issue with the San Francisco 49ers this season is nigh impossible. They’ve been plagued by a slew of problems throughout their 5-5 start.

All of those shortcomings have culminated one overarching flaw: the 49ers can’t close games.

They’ve had fourth quarter leads in three of their five defeats, and four of their five losses have been by one score. Their inability to finish games could rear its head again Sunday in a crucial matchup with the Green Bay Packers.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Wednesday in a press conference was asked about Brock Purdy’s up-and-down season, and used it as an opportunity to identify why the team’s inability to close teams out could be a problem in Green Bay.

“And to me that’s come all the way down to how we finish games,” Shanahan said. “And we’ve had four games here that have come down to the last two possessions and we’ve only won one of those. And that’s the difference between eight-and-two and five-and-five with the one we won being Tampa. In contrast, you look at a team like Green Bay, they’ve had seven games come down to the last possession and they’ve won six of them, with the only one they lost being the opening game versus Philly. And that’s why they have such a good record.”

The only Packers games to not be decided by one score this year were a 30-14 blowout win over the Tennessee Titans, a 34-13 win over the Arizona Cardinals, and a 24-14 loss to the Detroit Lions.

Their close wins involved blocking a Chicago Bears field goal last week and getting a walk-off field goals vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans the two weeks prior. Their 24-19 win against the Los Angeles Rams saw their defense hold late after LA got down inside the Packers 40.

Their penchant for winning close games has helped them hold the No. 6 seed in the NFC, two games ahead of San Francisco.

If the 49ers can figure out a way to get and hold a late lead against Green Bay on Sunday it would go a long way toward helping them get back on the path to a playoff berth. The problem is they’ve yet to show that ability this season, and failing to do so again Sunday could put them well outside the playoff picture with only six games to go.

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49ers breakout offensive star quickly became an afterthought

Don’t expect Jordan Mason to be involved more in the offense any time soon.

The San Francisco 49ers appear to be falling into a pattern where they’re leaving good players on the sideline since running back Christian McCaffrey returned.

In McCaffrey’s absence, RB Jordan Mason posted 685 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns on 134 carries. Over that eight-game stretch he averaged 5.11 yards per rush, which is tied for the seventh-best mark in the NFL. He ran for more than 100 yards thrice, and the only time he ran for fewer than 58 yards was the Week 8 game vs. the Dallas Cowboys where he exited with an injury after only six carries.

Now that McCaffrey has returned, Mason has reverted to being an offensive afterthought. In the two games with McCaffrey in the lineup Mason has played only five snaps and received three carries for 18 yards.

It appeared through eight weeks that Mason had proven to be enough of a weapon that the 49ers could lean on him more once McCaffrey returned. Mason could not only spell McCaffrey to help manage his Achilles injury, but he could offer some explosive play potential with a different running style than the starter.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan doesn’t appear to be planning on adding more to Mason’s workload any time soon.

“Yeah, I like all those guys playing,” Shanahan said. “But it depends on the situation, depends how many times you’re getting the ball, it depends on the drives, it depends if we’re going to put two backs out there. When you do two backs, then you’ve got to take either a big off or another receiver. But I’m not always thinking of how to get Christian off.”

There’s potential for Shanahan to operate with McCaffrey and Mason (or rookie fourth-round pick Isaac Guerendo) on the field together, and he acknowledged as much in Wednesday’s press conference. However, he didn’t sound eager to make that personnel grouping part of the offense.

Instead we’ll likely see more of what we saw a season ago. When McCaffrey is healthy, he’s going to be on the field and the 49ers are going to rely on him to be their go-to playmaker. That appears to be the case no matter what kind of wrinkle another RB on the sideline might be able to add to the offense.

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49ers found new way to lose in Week 11 vs. Seahawks

Good news: Special teams didn’t lose the 49ers a game on Sunday. Bad news: They have a new thing that did lose them the game.

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the San Francisco 49ers 2024 season is that all five of their losses seem to come down to something different.

There’s not one discernible thing they have to fix, but rather a smattering of issues that vary each week in how much damage they inflict on the club’s chances to get a victory.

In a damaging Week 11 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, it appeared the offense was a major problem. That unit turned the ball over once and averaged only 4.9 yards per play in their least efficient outing of the year. They were also unable to hold onto the football for 3:56 at the end of the game, giving Seattle a chance to win.

Despite the offensive struggles, head coach Kyle Shanahan wasn’t necessarily displeased with the play from that unit in their latest loss. Instead, he pointed to penalties as the reason for their season-low output.

“Yeah, that was a huge thing. I thought that was one of the biggest problems for the offense on the day,” Shanahan said of the penalties. “And I actually thought we played a better game offensively than we did on that Thursday night game. We didn’t get, you know, on that Thursday night game we got the busted coverage on [WR] Deebo’s [Samuel] 70-yarder and we got those two explosive runs which really helped. But we played better football this game. We just didn’t at all with the penalties and you know, we had one 14-play drive where, I don’t know how many 14-play drives that I’ve been a part of that don’t end with points or a missed field goal or turnover. To go 14 plays and then punt it, we had eight plays inside the 50 after that turnover for the field goal having to overcome it a couple times and get them again. So, that was our biggest problem on the day I felt offensively.”

The 49ers had one drive just before the first half where they had a second-and-3 turn into a second-and-8 because of a false start. Two plays later on a third-and-1 they had a five-yard carry called back because of a hold, putting San Francisco into a third-and-10.

They overcame those penalties to get a first-and-10 at Seattle’s 34 after the two-minute warning. Another false start pushed them to a first-and-15, and then quarterback Brock Purdy took a sack that knocked them out of field goal range. Two incompletions later they punted. Instead of going ahead 10-6 or 14-6 before halftime, the 49ers led 7-6.

In the second half the 49ers defense came up with an interception that set the offense up at Seattle’s 27. They eventually got to first-and-10 at the Seahawks 16. An eight-yard scramble by Brock Purdy on that down was called back for a hold, giving the 49ers a first-and-20 at Seattle’s 26. Running back Christian McCaffrey immediately got the 49ers back inside the 15 with a 14-yard run, but that was negated by an illegal formation flag.

San Francisco went from first-and-10 at the Seattle 16 to first-and-25 at the Seattle 31. They settled for a field goal on that series and instead of leading 14-6, led 10-6 and allowed the next Seattle touchdown to give them a lead.

The good news is it wasn’t special teams that killed the 49ers this time. The bad news is we have a new thing to add to the list of reasons a team that was supposed to contend for a Super Bowl is fighting for its playoff life after 10 games.

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49ers head coach denies impact of ‘Super Bowl hangover’ in rocky start

Super Bowl hangover? Kyle Shanahan isn’t buying it.

It’s easy to pick out reasons the San Francisco 49ers have stumbled through the first 10 weeks of the NFL season. What’s more difficult is pinpointing the why behind those reasons.

After all, the 49ers were a couple plays away from a Super Bowl victory in February, and now they’re 5-5 overall, last in the NFC West and No. 10 overall in the NFC.

One of the explanations commonly tossed out for the team’s issues this season is the dreaded ‘Super Bowl hangover’ teams experience after falling short at the league’s highest stage. Head coach Kyle Shanahan isn’t buying that big-picture explanation.

In a conference call with reporters Monday after the team’s Week 11 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Shanahan instead pointed to controllable on-field issues the team had in their most recent defeat.

I don’t think there is an answer about a journey or Super Bowl hangover. I think it’s about what’s happening in that exact game. The week before was almost the same game. I think we went down 13 to 10 or something in the third. I think they came back and tied it up and we went down and won it on the last play. So, I don’t think that means we had a killer instinct in that game and not in this game. They took a lead 13 to 10 in the fourth quarter. We went on a 14-play drive and scored a touchdown and overcame a bunch of negative stuff on that drive and still took a 17 to 13 lead. Our defense held them on a fourth-and-one, I think with three and a half minutes to go. So I saw the killer instinct on both of those drives. And then we got to run out the clock on offense and we run three plays, get it down there in second-and-11. We missed a throw and catch, which I think would’ve got us in the red zone and allowed us to run out more clock, possibly the clock, but we didn’t make it and then they got us on the last drive. So we’ve got to play better on those two last drives. And it usually comes down to that in football. If you don’t want it to come down to that before that you’ve got to play pretty flawlessly to get up a couple scores before the end. But that’s why most games in this league do come down to the end and we got that done versus Tampa, but we didn’t get it done this week.

There’s some merit to this. There have been multiple times this season where better execution on one or two plays in a game would have flipped the outcome and had the 49ers sitting at something like 8-2 or 7-3 after 10 games.

However, through 11 weeks they’ve been plagued by different problems that have resulted in five losses. The spate of issues could be explained by the mental and physical fatigue that typically defines a ‘Super Bowl hangover.’

Perhaps Shanahan is correct and the team simply starts executing more effectively down the stretch and they make a run to the postseason. Until they do that though, we’ll be left looking for explanations in what’s been a subpar first 10 games.

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Former Washington coach in trouble?

Is 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan really on the hot seat?

A former Washington Redskins offensive coordinator is said to be on the hot seat.

Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks drove down the field and, in the game’s final seconds, defeated the San Francisco 49ers, dropping the 49ers to 5-5 this season.

A couple of hours later, Grant Cohn, publisher of 49ers on SI, tweeted, “If the 49ers miss the playoffs, they should fire Kyle Shanahan. Period.”

Twitter was ablaze on Sunday evening, as 49er fans declared their disappointment with this year’s team in general. In particular, many voicing they wouldn’t mind if Shanahan was not San Francisco’s coach next season. That was putting it nicely, by the way.

Many are tweeting things they should not, being mean-spirited, unfair, and frankly hateful towards Shanahan. Yes, they are exercising their First Amendment right to say what they think. However, aren’t they also revealing how unfair and unkind they are as people?

Yes, the 49ers are struggling, and yes, injuries have been a major issue. They are a reality.

If Shanahan’s 2024 team does not make the playoffs, there will be changes made. However, that doesn’t mean necessarily the change made will be the head coach. They could choose to make personnel changes.

And yes, they could fire Kyle Shanahan. However, the 49ers could still win the NFC West, where the Cardinals lead at 6-4 and the 49ers, Rams and Seahawks are tied at 5-5.

Shanahan was the Redskins’ offensive coordinator during the 2010-2013 seasons. He was subsequently fired along with head coach Mike Shanahan, Matt LaFleur, and others after a horrible 3-13 2013 season, when Robert Griffin had refused to run the offense that Kyle had designed for him in 2012, bringing Griffin his lone season of NFL success.

Shanahan was the Houston Texans’ offensive coordinator for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. After Washington, he was the offensive coordinator for the Browns in 2014 and the Falcons in 2015 and 2016 before becoming the 49ers’ head coach for the 2017 season.

Don’t expect 49ers to move on from Jake Moody despite nightmare game

Jake Moody isn’t going anywhere for the 49ers.

San Francisco 49ers kicker Jake Moody didn’t have his best game as a pro Sunday in Tampa Bay.

In fact, despite making the game-winning kick on the final play of the game, Moody might have had his worst overall game as a pro.

Moody missed three kicks during the 49ers’ tumultuous 23-20 win over the Buccaneers in his first game back from a high ankle sprain he suffered in Week 5. Despite the rough outing, head coach Kyle Shanahan doesn’t appear ready to move on from his kicker.

His answer when asked about Moody in a Monday conference call reflected his “you’re only as good as your last kick” sentiment from his postgame press conference Sunday.

“Not much different,” Shanahan said Monday. “He missed three kicks. I thought it wasn’t the easiest place to kick in. The wind was weird, especially the direction that he missed the stuff. It was different. But it was a few big kicks and came back and hit his first game winner on a walk off. So, thought he finished it well and we’ll move on to next week with it.”

Entering Sunday’s game, Moody had only one miss on the season – a 55-yard try late in Week 3 against the Los Angeles Rams. Last season he missed multiple kicks in a game only once, and that came in a Week 6 loss to the Cleveland Browns where one of his misses was a game-winning try.

The 49ers’ willingness to put Moody back out for another field goal try was a sign of the faith they have in their 2023 third-round pick. Ideally the 49ers offense will start converting more drives into touchdowns, but they’ll continue relying on Moody until they do.

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49ers may turn to familiar face at safety as standout rookie battles injury

There may be a familiar face back in the secondary for the 49ers on Sunday.

The San Francisco 49ers recently brought a familiar face back onto their practice squad. Now they may need to turn to that familiar face in their Week 10 matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Tashaun Gipson was released by the Jacksonville Jaguars and quickly scooped up by the 49ers to join their practice squad. He offered good internal depth San Francisco knew it could rely on after he spent the 2022 and 2023 campaigns as the 49ers’ starting free safety.

Rookie Malik Mustapha has stepped into a starting role nicely after veteran Talanoa Hufanga went down with a wrist injury. Now Mustapha is dealing with an injury of his own, opening the door for Gipson to get back on the roster for game day.

Mustapha suffered a calf injury that limited him in Thursday and Friday’s practices. He’s officially listed as ‘questionable.’ Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Friday told reporters Gipson is a potential replacement for Mustapha if the rookie can’t go Sunday.

“Yeah, he is in the mix,” Shanahan said. “Especially with Mustapha being questionable. He got a week in practice at Jacksonville, he’s done awesome this week in his three days. And we’ll discuss that with him over these next 24 hours. It’s nicer being on the east coast, we get until four o’clock instead of one. But those are all things that he looks good enough to do it. Just kind of depends on the health of everyone else.”

Gipson spent most of the preseason with the Jaguars after signing in mid-August. He didn’t appear in a game for them before getting released in early November.

He played in 33 games across two seasons with the 49ers, and registered six interceptions with 11 pass breakups.

The 49ers and Buccaneers are slated to kick off at 10:00am Pacific Time from Raymond James Stadium.

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Why 49ers were worried about facing Buccaneers in NFC championship game

Kyle Shanahan: Big Baker Mayfield guy.

The San Francisco 49ers punched their ticket to Super Bowl LVIII with a thrilling NFC championship game victory over the Detroit Lions.

While the Lions’ sensational first-half performance forced a dramatic comeback by the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium, Detroit nearly didn’t get out of the divisional playoffs after an eight-point victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan on Wednesday told reporters he wasn’t excited about the prospect of facing the Buccaneers and quarterback Baker Mayfield.

“I think Baker is a stud,” Shanahan said. “I think last year, I thought he was at the top of his game last year playing real well and this year I think he’s the same, if not better. I think he’s one of the main reasons I think they were a couple plays away from playing us in the NFC Championship last year. We were worried, real worried about him going into that game. He just got hotter as the whole year went. And he’s playing at such a high level right now.”

The 49ers saw Mayfield up close in Week 11 last season. He completed 29-of-45 throws for 246 yards with one touchdown and one interception in a 27-14 San Francisco victory at Levi’s Stadium. The numbers weren’t great, but he made some sensational throws in that game that helped paint a picture of what he might be capable of in a better offense.

This year, Buccaneers new offensive coordinator Liam Coen has gotten the most out of Mayfield. Even without his top two wide receivers, Mayfield managed to go into Kansas City in Week 9 and go 23-of-31 for 200 yards and two touchdowns.

Shanahan was worried about facing Mayfield in January, but now in Week 10 the 49ers will have to face him with their chances of playing next January hanging in the balance.

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Christian McCaffrey injury update great news for 49ers

A positive Christian McCaffrey update after his return to practice.

The San Francisco 49ers are on the verge of getting running back Christian McCaffrey back in games.

McCaffrey, who has missed the entire season and been on IR since Week 2 with Achilles tendinitis, returned to practice Monday after the team opened his 21-day practice window.

That he returned to practice Monday was a positive update since he spent the Bye week ramping up his rehab with more intense workouts that simulated practices.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Wednesday told reporters the Monday session went well for McCaffrey, who experienced no pain after the post-Bye bonus practice.

McCaffrey is projected to be a limited participant Wednesday.

While full participation is preferable, that McCaffrey got through Monday pain-free is a great sign for his potential Week 10 return when the 49ers face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The next steps will be getting through three consecutive practices without any pain. McCaffrey’s return is essential to a potential 49ers playoff run, but they’re also unlikely to try and push him into action if he deals with even a minor setback in his recovery.

We’ll likely see limited sessions all week from McCaffrey, but they may give him a full go in Friday’s walk-through.

McCaffrey was the Offensive Player of the Year last season after leading the NFL with 339 touches, 1,459 rushing yards, 2,023 scrimmage yards and 21 touchdowns. His return will give the 49ers’ offense a boost after they struggled to score touchdowns without him in the first eight weeks.

If McCaffrey does play Sunday, he’ll be officially activated off IR on Saturday.

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NFL trade deadline: No major trade isn’t bad news for 49ers

The 2024 NFL trade deadline came and went with the 49ers making only one, very under-the-radar move.

The 2024 edition of the NFL trade deadline came and went with the San Francisco 49ers staying relatively quiet.

The day was headlined by CB Marshon Lattimore going from the New Orleans Saints to the Washington Commanders, edge rusher Za’Darius Smith heading from the Cleveland Browns to the Detriot Lions and wide receiver Mike Williams going from the New York Jets to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Despite multiple veteran pieces in potential positions of need being available, John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan decided to hold onto their premium draft capital and add some depth on the defensive line. Just before the deadline, San Francisco dealt a future seventh-round pick to the Houston Texans for veteran defensive tackle Khalil Davis.

While they didn’t make a major move on Tuesday, help is on the way for the 49ers.

While they’ve posted an underwhelming 4-4 record through nine weeks, it’s fair to say the 49ers have yet to be healthy at any point in the first half of the season. While they will still be missing players like Brandon Aiyuk, the 49ers will be getting a boost with the return of several key players.

For the first time all season, reigning Offensive Player of the Year Christian McCaffrey is nearing a highly-anticipated return to the field after being sidelined due to an Achilles injury. Along with McCaffrey, Brock Purdy will welcome more help offensively with the soon return of Jauan Jennings.

Jennings, who has posted a breakout campaign in 2024, has missed the last two games with a hip injury. Jennings, with the addition of McCaffrey and rookie Ricky Pearsall, will give Purdy and the 49ers offense more playmakers and depth for the stretch run of the 2024 season.

While Purdy’s offensive weapons will have more flexibility, so will the 49ers’ offensive line. Veteran offensive lineman Jon Feliciano recently had his practice window opened. Feliciano started every playoff game last season. While Dominick Puni likely wont be going anywhere, Feliciano’s return fills a whole in the 49ers offensive line depth. His return also provides competition for players like center Jake Brendel.

While the 49ers still have some question marks on the defensive line, the defensive line unit was a popular group on Tuesday’s trade deadline with players like Smith and Preston Smith being on the move. With Lynch and company not making a move, the 49ers will need to lean on one their free agent signings from the summer – Leonard Floyd.

The veteran pass rusher has had a quiet start to his campaign with the 49ers, recording 24 tackles and three sacks in eight games. Yet, over his last four games, Floyd has notched two of those sacks. If he continues that pace for the second half of the season, Floyd could check many boxes on the 49ers’ defensive front.

Coming off the bye week, the 49ers will enter the post-trade deadline run on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

This post originally appeared on Niners Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

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