Subscribe
Follow Us
The San Francisco 49ers have struggled this season. Some might point to the Injuries that the team has had to deal with for the second year in a row, some might point to the 49ers fans, who seem to have lost the home-field advantage that they once had in a huge way.
Either of those would not be an incorrect way to judge this team. In the past two seasons, San Francisco has been 14 points worse at home than they are on the road, they have also had the most players placed on IR during that same span. However, you can't put the blame on the training staff…or on the fans. When you have those two specific problems at the same time, it points to a larger problem that is actually the root of the issue: the head coach is doing a bad job.
3 Reasons 49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Deserves More Blame
3. His scouting and practices are leading to an injured roster
John Lynch may be the title of general manager in San Francisco, but we all know that Shanahan runs the show, despite what they may want to say. It is Shanahan, then, that is deciding whether or not to bring a guy to the team. he has built a brittle roster and it is coming back to bite him. Also, there has to be something said about the 49ers' practices. Whatever they are doing is too much or too little for professional athletes to be preparing for their games. Something is wrong about the way they practice, or else there would not be so many injuries.
2. He refuses to pass the torch to Trey Lance
San Francisco plays in the best division in football. It is that simple. It probably has the two best teams in the conference in Arizona and LA and Seattle is still in the hunt for a playoff spot after weathering the storm without superstar QB Russell Wilson. SF is the worst team in their own division.
The 49ers should have not only realized they were out of it a while back, but they had to make a QB change. Perhaps Shanahan is waiting until after the big rivalry game with the Rams on Monday Night Football as the perfect time to have Lance take over as the starter? Regardless, it should have happened sooner and the fact that it has not is a huge indictment on Shanahan.
1. He has not adjusted his system to beat different defenses
For someone who is hailed as a “genius” of football and has beaten Sean McVay four straight times, Kyle Shanahan sure does have a “basic” offense. If you take away the run from the 49ers, thus taking away the play-action game, the team simply cannot adjust. Sometimes, all you have to do is get ahead in the game and SF will usually keep itself out of it by repeating the same mistakes.
They have a weapon in Deebo Samuel, but they are giving him the ball too close to the line of scrimmage. He is top-3 in the NFL in receiving yards and almost all of it is after the catch. Putting him into situations like the Chiefs use Tyreek Hill would make more sense than the way they use Samuel. Yes, he should be catching SOME screens. Just not 90 percent of his targets.
