By CJ Carlson
The San Francisco 49ers didn’t wait long before parting ways with one of their coaches, that being defensive coordinator Steve Wilks. Wilks just recently finished his first full season with the team, but it was clear that the fit just didn’t work for everybody.
When the Kansas City Chiefs toppled the 49ers in the recent Super Bowl, the media fired questions at head coach Kyle Shanahan about the coaching staff. In particular, they wanted to know if coaches would be fired or not. Shanahan said, “I haven’t talked to anybody yet. So yeah, I expect all our coaches to be back.” Apparently, that wasn’t the case. The 49ers defense only gave up one touchdown in regulation but couldn’t do anything against Patrick Mahomes and company late in the game.
While the performance up to that late collapse was great, Nick Bosa and other starters have slightly hinted at being underprepared. Bosa said that he believes the team “could’ve been more prepared” when going up against Mahomes as a runner. He said, “You kind of have to anticipate Mahomes wanting to have the ball in his hands. We played plenty of read-option teams, so we have the answers for it. But it’s tough when you play a team like that that can beat you in all kinds of different ways. It ended up being very big few moments where they did pull it out. We’ll learn from it.”
San Francisco 49ers Looking For Another Defensive Coordinator
The 49ers previously had DeMeco Ryans as their defensive coordinator. Ryans, as most people know, took the head coaching job of the Houston Texans and completely helped turn them around. Wilks took over the job after being the Carolina Panthers defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach. He also became their interim head coach after Matt Rhule was fired.
It’s worth noting that Wilks, Shanahan, and general manager John Lynch had issues with the team’s defensive performance in the two prior playoff games. It was said that the effort was inexcusable given that it was their biggest two games of the season. Lynch didn’t just have negative things to say though, he also said, “I was really proud of our defense and thee way they competed in this last game. I think that looked like I envisioned it looking. We were getting after them.”
The 49ers will once again be in the market for a defensive coordinator. The Wilks hiring wasn’t terrible, but both parties know that the fit could have been a little better. We’ll see where the team goes from here throughout the offseason.
