On February 11, head coach Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers, along with their entire fanbase, had their souls ripped out of their bodies with an excruciating loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime of Super Bowl 58, played from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The 49ers raced out to a 10-0 lead in this one, but as history has proven three times now, no Super Bowl lead is safe when Shanahan is on your sidelines, and Patrick Mahomes and company ultimately prevailed in what was one of the most entertaining games in recent memory.
After the game, Shanahan shocked many across the NFL landscape when he fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, despite San Francisco's defense performing about as well as one could hope against Patrick Mahomes. This of course opened up the search for the next person to run San Francisco's defense, and if the latest intel is any indication, the 49ers could be closing in on their top canddiate.
“Hear the 49ers might be closing in on a DC. Not sure when there'll be an announcement, but could be soon,” reported Tim Kawakami of The Athletic on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter.
It is true that the 49ers' defense looked quite malleably throughout the first two rounds of the postseason when compared to their dominance displayed during the regular year. However, San Francisco stepped up and held Mahomes and the Chiefs in check about as much as humanly possible in the Super Bowl, making Kyle Shanahan's decision all the more shocking.