Widely expected to win the NFC West with ease after coming just a few snaps away from a Super Bowl victory back in February, the San Francisco 49ers are one of the true disappointments of the NFC playoff picture, sitting at 5-5 with multiple crushing fourth-quarter losses on their resume.
What gives? Has the Kyle Shanahan system finally been exposed? Or has the war of attrition finally caught up with the 49ers, with some players getting older, others leaving in free agency, and others still just having down games versus expectations?
Asked if his team has lost their killer instinct after dropping another game where they held the lead in the fourth quarter, Shanahan noted that there isn't some big conspiracy around the team's struggles, as their inability to execute up to their standards is the reason why the 49ers aren't in first place, not some narrative the media is trying to craft.
“Just that the only thing that matters is what happens in those three-and-a-half hours in a football game. And the only thing that you can do about those three-and-a-half hours is focus on football and how to get better at that stuff in practice in meetings. And anything outside of that, any talking about it, any pointing to other people trying to make up any type of narrative of it that doesn’t have to do with exactly what’s happening on the football field will only make that stuff harder,” Shanahan told reporters.
“Those are the challenges because guys know their job, and they’re just supposed to do their job, and guys don’t always know what other people are responsible for and doing, and that’s why you’ve got to make sure you got tough-minded people who can focus on really what their job is and nothing more than that. And it gets harder when you have adversity and stuff like that when you aren’t getting as many W’s as you want. But no matter how much harder it gets, you’ve got to always understand it’s about the ball and you’ve got to keep it about the ball and nothing else.”
Interesting stuff, right? Well, wait, it gets even better, as reporters doubled down on understanding the 49ers' issues, and Shanahan doubled down that everything is fine.
Kyle Shanahan doubles down that “Everything is Fine” for the 49ers
Asked if the 49ers are experiencing a “Super Bowl hangover” after fighting so hard to get to the top of the NFL world last year, Shanahan said no, doubling down on his previous statement that execution, not drama, is holding San Francisco back.
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“No, I hear that, and I understand all the questions, but it’s back to my last answer. I don’t think there is an answer about a journey or Super Bowl hangover. I think it’s about what’s happening in that exact game. The week before was almost the same game. I think we went down 13 to 10 or something in the third. I think they came back and tied it up and we went down and won it on the last play. So, I don’t think that means we had a killer instinct in that game and not in this game. They took a lead 13 to 10 in the fourth quarter. We went on a 14-play drive and scored a touchdown and overcame a bunch of negative stuff on that drive, and still took a 17 to 13 lead. Our defense held them on a fourth-and-one, I think, with three and a half minutes to go.
“So I saw the killer instinct on both of those drives. And then we got to run out the clock on offense and we run three plays, get it down there in second-and-11. We missed a throw and catch, which I think would’ve got us in the red zone and allowed us to run out more clock, possibly the clock, but we didn’t make it, and then they got us on the last drive. So we’ve got to play better on those two last drives. And it usually comes down to that in football. If you don’t want it to come down to that before that you’ve got to play pretty flawlessly to get up a couple scores before the end. But that’s why most games in this league do come down to the end, and we got that done versus Tampa, but we didn’t get it done this week.”
Are fans, pundits, and talent evaluators alike looking for a story where there isn't one? Or are the 49ers a team that is seriously struggling, and their coaches are fighting like crazy to keep everything together? That opinion lies in the eye of the beholder, but at this point, you can't knock Shanahan for trying to keep everything in-house in the face of adversity.
