When asked about the past performance and future employment of defensive coordinator Steve Wilks with the San Francisco 49ers on Tuesday, head coach Kyle Shanahan gave a blanket statement about his coaching staff.
“I haven’t talked to anybody yet,” he said. “So yeah, I expect all our coaches to be back.”
On Wednesday, the 49ers fired Wilks, who finished his first year with the team in that role.
The 49ers lost Super Bowl LVIII to the Kansas City Chiefs, 25-22, in a game where the defense played well for most of the game but folded late. The Chiefs scored only one touchdown in regulation, and it came off a muffed punt deep in San Francisco territory. It was even more impressive considering Dre Greenlaw suffered a torn Achilles midgame and Arik Armstead and Javon Hargrave were playing through injuries in the Super Bowl.
But on the final possession of regulation and the first series of overtime, the 49ers’ defense couldn’t stop Patrick Mahomes from doing enough — a few times with his legs — to lead them to victory late.
Nick Bosa told reporters he thought the 49ers “could’ve been more prepared” for Mahomes as a runner in the read-option game, as the QB had two key conversions late.
“You kind of have to anticipate Mahomes wanting to have the ball in his hands,” Bosa said. “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.”
On one key possession late in overtime, Shanahan called a timeout with the Chiefs facing second-and-6 from the San Francisco 37-yard line. It appeared as if Shanahan didn’t like the all-out pressure look Wilks was prepared to give the Chiefs.
“Yeah, I didn’t like the look they were in, and one of our players looked a little gassed,” Shanahan said Tuesday, via team transcript. “I didn’t think I was going to use them all right there. So I thought it’d be a good time to use one.”
Wilks, 54, came on board with the 49ers prior to last season after he’d been the Carolina Panthers’ defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach, as well as later serving as Carolina’s interim head coach after the firing of Matt Rhule. He also served as the Arizona Cardinals’ head coach for the 2018 season.
The 49ers had built their defense into the NFL’s best unit in 2022 under the guidance of then-DC DeMeco Ryans, who later accepted the Houston Texans’ head-coaching job. Wilks spent two years in Carolina but has held five different jobs — including one year in college as Missouri’s defensive coordinator in 2021 — over a six-year span.
Shanahan, Wilks and San Francisco general manager John Lynch had expressed disappointment in the 49ers’ defensive effort in the two playoff games leading up to the Super Bowl, saying that it was inexcusable for 49ers players to not be giving maximum effort at that stage of the season. But Lynch added Tuesday, “I was really proud of our defense and the way they competed in this last game. I think that looked like I envisioned it looking. We were getting after them.”
Apparently, that improvement wasn’t enough for Wilks to remain in his role.
