© Robert Hanashiro | 2018 Dec 30
It’s hard to argue that 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan wasn’t dealt a bad hand in 2018. First, he lost newly acquired starting running back Jerick McKinnon to a season-ending ACL injury before Week 1. Then Jimmy Garoppolo was shelved after sustaining the same injury in Week 3. A couple months later, linebacker Reuben Foster was cut after he was arrested for his third domestic incident in a calendar year.
If there was ever a season where a head coach deserved a pass, Shanahan’s 2018 would be a prime candidate. Still, after two years on the job, the Shanahan-John Lynch regime has mustered a total of 10 wins since each were signed to six-year deals in 2017. Both the luck and results haven’t been great.
The Athletic Bay Area Editor-in-Chief Tim Kawakami joined KNBR on Wednesday and was asked about the future of Shanahan as the 49ers’ head coach. Kawakami broke down the complex situation, and began by saying he didn’t think that 2019 would be a make or break year, as long as some improvement is shown.
“I kind of think if it’s halfway decent,” Kawakami began. “If you’re looking at 7-9 with a chance that they could’ve gone 9-7, they don’t make the playoffs, they look okay, maybe there’s an injury or two, I think ownership — by giving them the six-year contract that they did to both Shanahan and John Lynch — I think they might be already predetermined to just ride it out at least for another year.”
Will the fans be as patient if the team misses the playoffs for the third consecutive year with Lynch and Shanahan?
“If you’re looking at it from a fan’s point of view? If they are 2-5 at some point I think you’ll really start to hear it. You began to feel it a little bit this season. This season was not a good season, but there are reasons for it obviously. Jimmy Garoppolo going out for the year in Week 3 being the largest one.
“The fan patience is maybe running out. Fans can always understand that there are maybe practical reasons for things to not work out but they can’t wait forever, and they shouldn’t wait forever. They’re paying large amounts of money for these tickets or devoting a lot of time to them on television. So all that’s understood.”
Interestingly, it hasn’t been the fans that have run the 49ers’ previous three head coaches (Jim Harbaugh, Jim Tomsula, and Chip Kelly) out of town. Rather it was ownership that seemed to have the quick trigger, for Harbaugh especially.
“The unique aspect of the 49ers is that ownership has tended to run hotter than the fans in recent years. I mean I don’t think the fans were done with Jim Harbaugh after four years, ownership was done with him after about 3.1 years and when he was winning playoff games. The Tomsula thing was just a joke, but I think the Chip Kelly thing was fans didn’t quite know what to do and ownership said ‘we just have to redo it.’
“So this is a little different situation than a lot of NFL places but I do think from every indication I’ve gotten — and there’s been no leaks, there’s been no backstabbing, there’s been nothing of the sort that has usually been the sign of turmoil to come with the 49ers, and I know this since I’m usually the one writing about the turmoil to come — it’s not there. That doesn’t mean a1-6 start next year doesn’t start it again, but I think the heavy lean from ownership is that they can’t just keep going through coaches and general managers. They’ve got to stick with someone they believe in.
“Obviously they need a pass rusher or two, they need a receiver or two, we don’t know if they’re going to get them. But they think this team is a playoff team next year barring injuries and everything we know. That’s what they should be, and I think ownership is kind of thinking that. If it’s a little step back from that I don’t think we’re going to see the whispers and the reports on Sunday morning and all that stuff.
“If it’s 7-9, 8-8 — and no one wants to hear this — but if we’re just playing it out, if next year’s just mediocre, then year four becomes the big year.
“Zero indication that the Yorks have anything but total, total commitment to John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan, just because they’ve paid them so much and if they fire them, who are they going to get that’s any better.”
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Kawakami on Shanahan, start from 2:05.
