SANTA CLARA – Kyle Shanahan became the talk of the town again Sunday, a scoundrel who coached the 49ers to yet another division loss with a blown lead.
So George Kittle went to talk to him.
“I went and did a check with him on Monday,” Kittle told this news organization Wednesday, “and I’ve seen him not in a good place. And he’s not in a bad place.
“He’s doing alright. He’s just, you get frustrated sometimes.”
A wellness check on the 49ers (5-5) reveals they are not in an ideal place. They’re last in the NFC West, yet only one game behind division leader Arizona (6-4).
They’re still relying on Shanahan, in his eighth year, to rally them. They need him more than ever to lead. They’re not circling the wagons without him. He’s in charge of turning this around, like past playoff pushes.
“We haven’t had a players-only meeting or something like that,” Kittle said. “I don’t think we’re at that point.”
They’re no strangers to this. Three years ago, the 49ers were also 5-5 and ended up in the playoffs, where they reached the NFC Championship Game after upsetting the No. 1-seed Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.
This Sunday afternoon, the 49ers make their Green Bay return, underdogs again to the Packers (7-3).
Shanahan’s best-ever 49ers quarterback, Brock Purdy, has a sore shoulder and didn’t throw at Wednesday’s practice. Other mainstays rested their ailments, those being left tackle Trent Williams (ankle), defensive end Nick Bosa (obliques, hips), and running back Christian McCaffrey, who officially just “rested” amid his Achilles comeback.
“It’s stuff that you get used to as a coach,” Shanahan said. “You’ve got to change game plans when you know you’re missing people, and when you’re not sure you’ve got to have contingencies.”
A day after the 49ers lost their third NFC West game by blowing a fourth-quarter lead – 20-17 at home to Seattle – Shanahan told the media his team couldn’t wait to get to Green Bay. Inside team meetings, he’s pointing out what must be fixed, presumably in a stricter tone after each soul-sucking defeat.
“He just kind of lays out the games and how we lose them,” Bosa said. “That’s just kind of what I’ve seen from the losses we’ve had. We’ve had the lead, then we’ve had to go get a stop and we haven’t done it.”
“You see the tape. You see exactly what went wrong,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “Fix the corrections and move forward.”
Publicly, Shanahan does not call out the culprits, be they players or coaches. He defends the lack of late-game blitzes, the coverage issues of linebacker De’Vondre Campbell, the prompt overuse of McCaffrey. He has to have everyone’s back, and vice versa.
Just before returning to the practice field Wednesday, Shanahan described the “fine line” that tripped the 49ers’ into 5-5 misfits: “If we were 8-2 with a top offense in the league and stuff, we’d be feeling a lot better. I try to keep perspective of that, especially with our guys. And, to me, that’s come all the way down to how we finish games.”
Past Super Bowls taught him that much harder than this season’s three division defeats.
Bosa said they’ve been “three or four plays” from being 8-2, which shows them if they improve, “then we’re as good as anybody. And we believe that.”
Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur offered a supportive crutch, too, insisting the 49ers remain tough under Shanahan, his former superior on staffs in Houston, Washington and Atlanta. The 49ers are 4-2 against the Packers since LaFleur took over in 2019, including a 3-0 mark in the playoffs. LaFleur downplayed whether coaching familiarity can impact Sunday’s next reunion.
“You just have to rely on what you see on tape and try to find holes, whether on on offense, defense or special teams, and try to attack perceived weaknesses, which there are not many on this team,” LaFleur told Green Bay reporters.
Delving further into the coaching matchup, LaFleur’s offense is now counseled by Robert Saleh, Shanahan’s defensive coordinator from 2017-20 who served as the New York Jets’ coach up until a month ago.
Saleh has been “helpful” with this week’s preparations as well as other recent ones, contributing up through Friday before staying away from Packers games to instead spend times with his family, said LaFleur, adding: “He’s doing a great job. Always gives us a nugget. Been a great asset.”
Opposing Shanahan’s offense will be a Packers defense that’s changed its base look to a four-linemen front under coordinator Jeff Hafley, the 49ers’ defensive backs coach from 2016-18. Similarities to the 49ers thus exist in the front and in coverages. Shanahan noted: “Haf does his own deal. But it’s definitely different than what it’s been in the past.”
Before moving totally past last Sunday’s defeat, Kittle asked Shanahan about a particular drive: a 7-minute march in the second quarter (11 plays, 26 yards, three penalties) that amounted to no points, no turnover and merely a punt.
“I think that’s a Coach Shanahan first. I asked him that,” Kittle said. “That’s wild. Frustrating, some would say.”
Actually, that drive was not so unique. The 49ers elapsed 7 ½ mintues off the clock before punting in an October 2021 loss to Arizonam, per the Associated Press’ Josh Dubow. The only such drive lasting longer in the NFL since 2000 was a 10-minute series by the 2016 Carolina Panthers, who, like this year’s 49ers, were combating a Super Bowl hangover.
“While it is frustrating, yes, the nice thing is we have seven games left,” Kittle said, “to go out there and play Niners football and take advantage of those opportunities.”
Kittle, after missing Sunday’s loss with a balky hamstring, insists he’ll go out there and play the Packers. He’s not the only one with positive thinking.
“We keep it pretty good,” Bosa said of team morale. “Obviously you don’t want to act like nothing is wrong. We understand the task ahead.”