The San Francisco 49ers have endured a brutal 2024 season. In many ways, this was predictable. The hangover from last season's Super Bowl loss and the baggage that has accumulated over the last five seasons of postseason disappointment has caught up with them.
Those who want the Niners to fire head coach Kyle Shanahan do not know what they are talking about. What he and general manager John Lynch have been able to create has been nothing short of remarkable given the shambles of a franchise they inherited back in 2017.
If things had just gone slightly differently over the course of the last five seasons, Shanahan could have led the Niners to at least one if not two Super Bowl championships. Even though this season has been a disaster and he deserves his share of the blame for that, he also deserves the chance to right the ship next season.
The calls for him to be fired are coming from a lunatic fringe of the fanbase this season, but if the 49ers have another year like this one next year, then calls for Shanahan to be fired would sound much more reasonable.
If 2025 is a continuation of this mediocre, uninspired brand of 49ers football, then it may be a sign the Shanahan era has simply run its course in San Francisco. Perhaps opponents will have simply figured Shanahan out, or the Niners' aging corps of stars just cannot execute the way it once could.
It would be a shame for things to end that way for Shanahan after all of the great teams he was able to lead as head coach. In many ways it would be like the end of Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid's previous tenure with the Philadelphia Eagles where he delivered a lot of success but was never able to win a Super Bowl, and the Philly's decline led to his ouster.
Of course, there is the chance that 2024 was something of an anomaly. If things went slightly differently in four games this season, the Niners could easily be sitting at 10-4 and be in control of the NFC West. That does not erase the serious issues the team has on both sides of the ball, but it does suggest San Francisco still has the talent to be competitive even in a down year.
After the injury-plagued 2020 season, Shanahan was able to turn things around albeit after a brutal 3-5 start to the 2021 campaign before finding form and getting to the NFC Championship game.
It remains to be seen, but the 49ers are going to have to prove a lot in 2025 in what is shaping up to be a make-or-break year for Shanahan.
