Tag: Steve Wilks

Confirmed 49ers coaching changes coming in 2024

Confirmed coaching changes coming for 49ers:

The 49ers in 2024 will see some changes to their coaching staff, despite head coach Kyle Shanahan’s anticipation of keeping his assistants after 2023.

A handful of coaches were hired for different jobs elsewhere, while another was let go.

This is what happens to teams with as much success as San Francisco has had. Other clubs want to try and siphon off some of the coaching talent and we’ve seen this virtually every offseason from Shanahan’s staff.

Here are the confirmed departures for this offseason according to Shanahan’s conference call with reporters on Wednesday:

The Steelers need to give Steve Wilks the Brian Flores deal

The Steelers could bring Steve Wilks in as a defensive assistant this season.

In 2022, current Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores was fresh off of a stint as the Miami Dolphins head coach and when he needed an opportunity, the Pittsburgh Steelers gave it to him. Flores was named the team’s Senior defensive assistant and his impact was obvious on the defense.

Now, the Steelers have an opportunity to do it again after leaving the spot vacant for a year. Fresh off a trip to the Super Bowl, the San Francisco 49ers have fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks. Wilks was added as something of an outsider in the Niners organization and despite how well his defense performed last season, he’s out.

This is a perfect opportunity for the Steelers to bring in another great football mind to help with a defense that underperformed last season. Wilks has been a coach in the NFL since 2006 and has done a little bit of everything including head coach of the Arizona Cardinals for one season.

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49ers fire DC, former Panthers coach Steve Wilks after Super Bowl LVIII loss

The 49ers are moving on from DC Steve Wilks.

Well, now we know how Kyle Shanahan really felt about Steve Wilks.

On Wednesday, the San Francisco 49ers head coach announced the dismissal of Wilks—who served as his defensive coordinator this past season. This decision comes a day after Shanahan said the following when he was asked if Wilks would be back for the 2024 campaign:

“I haven’t talked to anybody yet, so, yeah, I expect all our coaches to be back.”

Per NFL Network insider Mike Garafolo, Shanahan told reporters today that Wilks ended up not being the “right fit.” The 49ers, who came up short in a 25-22 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII this past Sunday, ranked eighth in total defense in 2023—allowing 303.9 total yards per game.

This is now the second sour ending for Wilks in as many offseasons. The Panthers parted ways with the Charlotte, N.C. native last year after landing on Frank Reich as their head coach.

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49ers, DC Steve Wilks part ways

The #49ers and defensive coordinator Steve Wilks have parted ways.

The 49ers are in the market for a new defensive coordinator. Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Wednesday in a conference call announced the team and Steve Wilks parted ways after the 2023 season. The news comes just a day after Shanahan said he expected all of his assistants to be back for the 2024 campaign.

Shanahan expressed a desire to bring in a defensive coordinator more in line philosophically with what San Francisco does on that side of the ball. Since Shanahan and general manager John Lynch took over they’ve been a defense predicated on a strong defensive front. Wilks’ background is in the secondary which may be part of the reason the team’s star-studded defensive front struggled at times to generate pressure and stop the run this season.

Their two previous defensive coordinators, Robert Saleh and DeMeco Ryans, both had backgrounds as linebackers coaches with Ryans learning under Saleh who came from the Pete Carroll defensive coaching tree.

It’s likely the 49ers’ next hire, whether internal or from outside the building, will be of a similar mold.

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49ers expecting former Panthers coach Steve Wilks to return in 2024

Former Panthers interim HC Steve Wilks is seemingly sticking around in San Francisco.

Charlotte, N.C. native Steve Wilks may have a home in the Bay Area.

During Tuesday’s season-ending press conference alongside his general manager John Lynch, San Francisco 49ers head coach was asked if Wilks would be returning for the 2024 campaign.

“I haven’t talked to anybody yet, so, yeah, I expect all our coaches to be back,” Shanahan replied, per 49ers Webzone’s Kirk Larrabee.

Wilks, the former Carolina Panthers interim head coach, served as the defensive coordinator for the NFC champions in 2023. Under his guidance, the 49ers ranked eighth in total defense—allowing 303.9 total yards per game.

San Francisco, however, just came up short in Super Bowl LVIII, falling in a 25-22 overtime thriller to the Kansas City Chiefs. The win was clinched with a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who captured his third Super Bowl Most Valuable Player honor in the past five years.

It’s alright, Wilks. No one can stop that guy.

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Kyle Shanahan doesn’t expect major changes to coaching staff

It sounds like Steve Wilks will get an opportunity with the 49ers that he’s never gotten before: a second consecutive year as a defensive coordinator.

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan on Tuesday sounded non-committal when asked about defensive coordinator Steve Wilks’ future with San Francisco. Instead he laid out the laundry list of conversations the team needed to have internally during the offseason, and said he’d not spoken to any of his assistants in the couple of days following the team’s devastating 25-22 overtime loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII.

Shanahan answered a follow-up question about Wilks more directly, saying he expected all of the team’s coaches to be back in 2024.

Of course, there is the pending departure of offensive passing game specialist Klint Kubiak for the Saints offensive coordinator job. That’s one change that’ll be coming to San Francisco’s coaching staff, but it appears Wilks’ job is safe.

Wilks drew plenty of criticism for his defense’s role in San Francisco’s three-game losing skid in the middle of the year. They looked slow and unprepared, and a poorly-timed blitz call vs. the Vikings wound up playing a major role in Minnesota’s 22-17 win in Week 7. After the Week 9 bye, Wilks moved from the booth to the sideline and the 49ers’ defense started looking more effective.

In the playoffs things got a little sideways for the 49ers’ defense when they got demolished in the first half of the NFC championship by the Lions, and then struggled to get any late stops against the Chiefs in the Super Bowl.

It was worth wondering whether the 49ers would try and go a different direction than Wilks at the DC spot, but that doesn’t sound like it’s in Shanahan’s offseason plans. Wilks instead will get an opportunity he’s never gotten – a second consecutive year as a defensive coordinator.

He’ll get an offseason to make adjustments and another year to work with a group of players that he helped get to the Super Bowl.

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Christian McCaffrey, Steve Wilks, 49ers fall short in classic Super Bowl

Former Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey and coach Steve Wilks did all they could to bring the 49ers their first ring in 30 years. But it wasn’t enough.

Christian McCaffrey and Steve Wilks were on the doorstep of bringing the Bay Area their first Lombardi Trophy in 30 years. But unfortunately for them and the rest of the San Francisco 49ers, a GOAT was standing in their way.

Despite their valiant efforts, the former Carolina Panthers running back and interim head coach were denied on the biggest stage of the game Sunday night—as the Kansas City Chiefs notched a thrilling 25-22 overtime win in Super Bowl LVIII.

McCaffrey, who spent the better part of his first six NFL seasons in Carolina, tallied a game-high 160 yards from scrimmage. The 2023 AP Offensive Player of the Year recorded 80 yards on 22 rushes along with another 80 yards and a score on eight catches.

Wilks, a Charlotte, N.C. native, managed to hold down the Kansas City offense for much of the tightly-contested matchup—as the Chiefs entered the break with only three points. But, as we’ve learned for the third time in five years, there’s no holding down Patrick Mahomes.

The newly-crowned three-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player led a game-winning 13-play, 75-yard drive in overtime—a walk-off possession that ended in a 3-yard touchdown pass to wideout Mecole Hardman. Mahomes finished the night having completed 34 of his 46 throws for 333 yards, two scores and an interception.

But hey, at least a few other old friends were on the winning side—including kicker Harrison Butker, whose 57-yard field goal in the third quarter set a new Super Bowl record. The Chiefs have also carried former Panthers receiver Shi Smith and cornerback Keith Taylor on their practice squad.

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Five things the San Francisco 49ers must do to win Super Bowl LVIII

If the San Francisco 49ers are to win Super Bowl LVIII, they might want to pay attention to these five advanced scouting points.

Every Super Bowl comes down to a few big plays, and a few key matchups. You never know what it’s going to be, but when the game is over, and it’s time for coaches and players to review what happened and why, everyone will go back to their advanced scouting reports — how they aligned their guys and how those guys played from a schematic perspective — and try to discern what went right and what went wrong.

Not that we’re professional advanced scouts at Touchdown Wire, but here are five things the San Francisco 49ers should probably pay close attention to when they take on the Kansas City Chiefs today in Super Bowl LVIII.

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49ers DC Steve Wilks: I’m not bitter about departure from Panthers

49ers DC Steve Wilks said he’s not bitter about how his exit from Carolina went down.

If Steve Wilks is still harboring resentment towards the Carolina Panthers, no one would blame him for it. But we can put that hypothetical to bed, because it’s not the case.

On Wednesday, the former Carolina interim head coach and current San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator spoke with reporters ahead of this weekend’s Super Bowl LVIII matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. He touched upon his disappointing departure from the Panthers, which went down around this time last year.

“I’m not bitter,” he said, per Sheena Quick of FOX Sports Radio 1340 AM. “Everything’s a learning experience for me, and I learned a lot there—a lot of what not to do. Learned a lot of what it should look like, particularly coming here. There’s so much respect that I have for this organization [49ers].

“The York family, starting with Jed, they do it the right way—just completely how they run the organization. And really giving Kyle [Shanahan] and John [Lynch] everything they need to succeed—everything down to the meals, the food, how we travel. It’s just top-notch.”

Wilks didn’t exactly get a top-notch exit from the last organization he worked for. The Charlotte native, who stepped in for the fired Matt Rhule in the middle of the 2022 season and nearly led the Panthers to an improbable NFC South title, was passed up for the team’s full-time head-coaching job.

That gig, instead, went to Frank Reich—who was dismissed after just 11 games.

Wilks and the Niners, meanwhile, are on the doorstep of football immortality.

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49ers DC Steve Wilks not bitter about departure from Panthers

49ers DC Steve Wilks said he’s not bitter about how his exit from Carolina went down.

If Steve Wilks is still harboring resentment towards the Carolina Panthers, no one would blame him for it. But we can put that hypothetical to bed, because it’s not the case.

On Wednesday, the former Carolina interim head coach and current San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator spoke with reporters ahead of this weekend’s Super Bowl LVIII matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. He touched upon his disappointing departure from the Panthers, which went down around this time last year.

“I’m not bitter,” he said, per Sheena Quick of FOX Sports Radio 1340 AM. “Everything’s a learning experience for me, and I learned a lot there—a lot of what not to do. Learned a lot of what it should look like, particularly coming here. There’s so much respect that I have for this organization [49ers].

“The York family, starting with Jed, they do it the right way—just completely how they run the organization. And really giving Kyle [Shanahan] and John [Lynch] everything they need to succeed—everything down to the meals, the food, how we travel. It’s just top-notch.”

Wilks didn’t exactly get a top-notch exit from the last organization he worked for. The Charlotte native, who stepped in for the fired Matt Rhule in the middle of the 2022 season and nearly led the Panthers to an improbable NFC South title, was passed up for the team’s full-time head-coaching job.

That gig, instead, went to Frank Reich—who was dismissed after just 11 games.

Wilks and the Niners, meanwhile, are on the doorstep of football immortality.

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