Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Press Conference

Head Coach Kyle Shanahan

Press Conference – December 6, 2024

San Francisco 49ers

Opening comments:

“Injuries for the game: [S] George Odum will be out, [LB Dre] Greenlaw is out, [T] Trent Williams is out, [RB] Jordan Mason is out, [DL] Nick Bosa is doubtful, [LB Demetrius] Flannigan-Fowles, questionable, [OL] Aaron Banks, questionable, [S Talanoa Hufanga] Huf is questionable. Go ahead.”

Nick being doubtful and not out. Does that mean that he was able to do a little bit more this week?

“Yes, he did a little bit more.”

Does Banks still have steps to take, protocol?

“Yes.”

How did QB Brock Purdy look in practice? I guess it’s his first full week back in full participation. What are you expecting out of him?

“He is good. We had to wait a while to give him rest to make sure it healed, and we could see that it did at the end of last week and that’s why there’s no issues last Sunday and it’s been great all week. So, glad to get him back to full-speed and get him a full week of practice.”

What were your thoughts on OL Ben Bartch’s first start for you last week?

“I thought he did a good job. We were excited to get him to play with us, he hadn’t yet. We’ve had him here for a little bit over a year. For his first game, I thought he did a real good job.”

I know he had that pretty severe knee dislocation in ’22. Was last year a matter of just like building back strength still from that?

“I think so a little bit. When we got him, I thought he was pretty good, and we didn’t have any injuries and we didn’t have a need to play him. But we felt fortunate to get him and he got to learn our offense a little bit and he’s been real good here through the offseason.”

What was assistant head coach/defense Brandon Staley’s role this season? How has that developed and have you been happy with what he’s added?

“Yeah, I think Brandon’s done a real good job. He helps us out in all types of areas, works with the nickels probably the most. Real good at helping [defensive coordinator] Nick [Sorensen] with the game plan and stuff like that. Does our ball meeting.”

Has he helped develop elements of the defense or has it still been mostly the stuff that you’ve been doing?

“I think we have different wrinkles and stuff each year. I wouldn’t say that’s just Nick. That’s stuff we do as a group, but Nick’s been a part of that group.”

What was the nickel plan Sunday in Buffalo? It seemed like you had multiple nickels going throughout the day.

“Yeah, we had some injury situations, so we knew [DB Deommodore Lenoir] Dmo couldn’t play. So we had a first and second-down nickel and then we had a third-down nickel.”

First and second-down nickel, is that just a bigger player? Is CB Nick McCloud sort of a bigger nickel?

“No, just [CB] Renardo [Green] was a little banged up too. He just had a sore neck from the week before, so we didn’t want to put too much inside on him.”

WR Deebo Samuel Sr.’s numbers, clearly they haven’t been there this season. Would you attribute that to just kind of a trickle-down for the whole offense or are there things that he could be doing better?

“I think we all could be doing things better, but I think it’s more a trickle-down from the whole offense. He hasn’t had as many opportunities for the big play. He’s had a couple that he just missed, where you hit those and it makes a big difference just in terms of the perception of numbers. But I think it’s more trickle-down to the whole offense.”

There’s been in big games, like the playoffs, it’s like ‘Get Deebo the ball.’ You can see that in your head almost sometimes. Have you had the same feelings this season and has it been frustrating not to be able to see him make those big plays?

“Yeah, I mean I think it’s been frustrating with everything on offense, especially these last few weeks. Would like to get Deebo going more, and hopefully we can find a way to do that here in these next five games.”

There’s been struggles in situational football on both sides of the ball. As a coach, what can you do to kind of emphasize that or get better at that?

“Most of it is schematic answers and stuff, which definitely don’t want to talk about in here, but that’s all you emphasize. Numbers-wise and stuff, you can have some decent numbers, but if your numbers aren’t good in situational football you’re rarely going to lead to many points. And points are what it takes to win the game. It’s the stuff we emphasize all the time, stuff we’re trying to get better at, challenging guys at and challenging ourselves schematically, also.”

You guys, I know you don’t want to pay attention to what’s being said, but you look at it mathematically, it’s tough. You look at the conversation about where the 49ers are. Do you sense the mood or do you want the mood in the locker room to be kind of like denial of that anger or acceptance that this is a tough spot that you’re in?

“We understand where we’re at. We go to work and we practice football. We don’t discuss it all week, we don’t read all week. I get all that. I understand how the NFL works, I understand what our record is at. We knew coming into this year we were going to have to work to, I didn’t feel there right after training camp, I thought we had a chance though to get better as the year went, especially at the beginning of our schedule, which I thought was a lot easier than the second half. I thought we would improve and kind of build that as we went and I was hoping we could be 8-2 when we got to the tough stretch. And I’ve talked about those three games, which I feel we should have won that we let get away from us, and that got us to 5-5. And then right when we got at the toughest part where I was hoping we would have had some continuity and developed into the team that I thought could really make a run and push some things, that’s when we took a, subtracted a lot of guys from us and we’re kind of at our toughest spot and that’s where we are now which when you don’t take advantage of kind of what you had earlier in the year and you are in a tough spot, that’s why it makes it extremely hard to get out of. So, like I said earlier in the week, we’ve got to do some special things to get out of this hole we put ourself in and we understand that. But you know, we can talk about it every day we have to come to a press conference or talk about it outside of here. But when it’s with each other, it’s how to play better football, how to find a way to get a win. And that usually comes down, it only comes down to playing better football.”

President of football operations/general manager John Lynch said on the radio today, “You can’t get your ass kicked two weeks in a row and not respond.” And he wants to see a response that’s up to your guys’ standards. Do you have any doubt about this team’s ability to respond in that way?

“Of course we want to respond. We’ve been on the road two weeks in a row where we’ve given up over 100-yards rushing in the first half and we’ve had six turnovers in two games. And when that happens, you’re going to get your ass kicked like we did. I want to go out there, I want to stop the run, I want to not turn the ball over. And if that does, we’ll have a football game. And if we can get it into a football game, I like our chances of winning and I like our team to do that.”

Getting back to you saying that you thought that you might be 8-2. Is that something that you do every year?

“It’s not that. I thought we should have been 8-2. Yeah, we were 5-5 and I believe there were three games that we let get away that we should have won. That doesn’t mean that we’d been much of a different team at 8-2 than 5-5, but it’s how you improve as the year goes.”

Do you do that every year? Sort of map out how you think it might go?

“No, I didn’t. I don’t. I didn’t really do that this year. I’m just saying, I know where our team’s at after training camp and I know where I want to be. And I thought we could get there as it got to a harder part of our schedule and we didn’t take advantage of the easier part of our schedule, is what I’m saying, with those three games. And when we did get to it, we weren’t in a place to give ourselves some cushion, because I thought we were wounded when we got to the harder part and that was a challenge we put ourself in.”

What was your level of concern at the end of training camp then with all the injuries and everything that had happened at that point?

“I just knew we weren’t where I wanted to be, which rarely you are exactly at the beginning of the year. And that’s why you play and that’s why you get better as it goes and that’s what I was planning to do. That’s always the goal. We weren’t able to consistently do that. It seemed like every time we took a step forward, we took two steps back and that was kind of how it went. And once you lose some close games, ones you think you should have won, that’s the difference between being 5-5 at the halfway point and being 8-2 at the halfway point from a record standpoint, not just the overall where your team’s at.”

This season’s been such a struggle for a lot of people, but one person seems to have been impervious to it all is TE George Kittle. He’s been so productive and upbeat. How important is it to have a leader like him on your team?

“That’s just George’s personality. He’s always upbeat. But, I do think he’s had a hell of a year. He’s been able to stay healthy too. He’s missed two games I believe which were obviously tough without him. But I’ve just been proud of how he’s taken care of himself, the way he comes to work every single day. I love being around George and love having him on our team.”

Former NFL head coach Gary Kubiak was here today. Was it more business or pleasure? He’s a guy I’m sure you admire. Do you bend a guy like that’s ear and talk football with him?

“I mean, not really. I’m close with Kube. I mean, he gave me a big start, gave me my first position job and coordinator job a long time ago. I’ve known him most of my life and he’s here I think visiting his son and his granddaughter and probably it’s nice to get out of the house a little bit every once in a while and come watch some football. So he’s welcome up here anytime.”

Did you babysit for him?

“Kind of. I wasn’t a very good babysitter. So usually when people say that it was more because I was around and my younger sister did it for me.”

You’ve been through the gauntlet the last two weeks on the road. You have obviously an opponent coming up that’s been struggling. How do you keep the guys motivated and not taking this week lightly?

“Because we don’t see Chicago any different than these last two teams we’ve played. I know the record’s not the same, but it’s a fine line between your record and what a team’s capable of. This team was 4-2, would’ve been 5-2 if they didn’t give up a Hail Mary, they had two bad games which led them to 4-4 and then they played three of the best teams in the NFL and lost by a total of seven points. And the film is very real and all you’ve got to do is have them see the film, which I showed first thing Wednesday morning. That’s all you need to get their attention.”