SANTA CLARA — The 49ers know what they’re getting with Kyle Shanahan. What they don’t know is how they’re going to get it.
A week that included the dismissals of long-standing coaches Bill Belichick in New England (24 years) and Pete Carroll in Seattle (14) has left Shanahan as one of the graybeards in his sport at age 44. He’s in his seventh year — same as the Rams’ Sean McVay and Buffalo’s Sean McDermott.
That trails only Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh (17 seasons), John Harbaugh in Baltimore (16) and Andy Reid in Kansas City (13). Of the above coaches, only Shanahan and McDermott have yet to win the ultimate prize. The weight is heavier on Shanahan because Bill Walsh (three) and George Seifert (two) have set a championship standard in terms of winning Super Bowls while the Bills still await their first.
Shanahan is as close as he has ever been to a breakthrough: The 49ers won an NFC championship following the 2019 season and were conference runners-up the past two years, and this year’s team has a championship look. It’s driven by stars and basically polices itself with team leaders carrying out Shanahan’s creative messages.
Before a much-hyped Week 5 game against the Dallas, Shanahan actually addressed the possibility that the 49ers could lose and there was no shame in that as long as they played to their standard. They blew out the Cowboys 42-10.
“He’s very unpredictable with how he’s going to approach things,” edge rusher Nick Bosa said. “But his system is his system. He’s kind of old-school with new-school stuff to him. He’s always looking for ways to improve and he knows you can’t stay the same in the NFL.
“You have to keep improving each year and we’ve been so close. There has to be some other amount of improvement that we could reach. I kind of see him looking for it and hopefully this is the year we find it.”
Owners of the top seed and a first-round bye, the 49ers (12-5) will host Green Bay Saturday at 5 p.m., a 48-32 upset winner over No. 2 Dallas.
The conundrum facing Shanahan is the same one facing any coach who has been in one place for a long time. Walsh thought the saturation point with one organization was 10 years before things got stale. It’s a challenge to adhere to core beliefs yet change how they’re taught.
The near-misses in recent seasons are reflected in Shanahan’s approach to the next one. He didn’t run from losing to Kansas City in Super Bowl LIV the same way he didn’t run from title game losses to the Rams and Eagles.
“With Kyle, being so true and authentic to himself and having the experiences we’ve had as a team, losing in the big games, having slow starts to seasons, he looks back and reflects on those years and those scars you earn,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “How do we get better from that? What did we learn going forward? There’s always something new we’ve got to work on and get better at to attain what we’re trying to do here.”
Shanahan has conceded that in his first years as a head coach he applied the same values as he did as offensive coordinator. Score as many points as possible and let the defense and special teams take care of themselves. He has evolved to the point that he’s teaching defensive players nearly as much as offensive players.
“His team meetings are phenomenal the way he teaches football to offense, defense and special teams guys,” tight end George Kittle said. “I remember talking to (Javon) Hargrave and and he’s like, ‘I’ve never been in a team meeting like where Kyle is explaining the purpose of this run style vs. this run style, and why we’re trying to get defensive linemen to do certain things. No one’s ever talked to me like that before. I’ve learned 20 things in that 40-minute team meeting.’ It’s really cool to be part of something like that.”
Kittle was a fifth-round draft pick out of Iowa in Shanahan’s first season with the 49ers in 2017 and maintains “I’ve been playing football since I was 5 years old. But I’ve learned more in this seven years, specifically the last three or four, than I did in my first 26.”
There is a reliance on practice and game tape for evaluations that Shanahan always uses as a bottom line. Mixed messages are few and far between.
Chris Foerster, who was on Mike Shanahan’s Washington staff when Kyle was the offensive coordinator, said no one is immune from a frank assessment of their performance.
“I know if I’m not doing something right, I’m going to hear about it,” Foerster said. “If one of my players isn’t doing something right, they’re going to hear about it from me. They’re going to hear about it from other players. We’ve got a good, veteran team that way. But it starts at the top. Kyle is just very demanding of all of us.”
Which is why the 49ers’ bye week, while it included plenty of rest and rehab, also had an appropriate amount of intensity with the realization of what is to come.
“We earn this time to sit and rest a little bit and get ourselves in the position,” Shanahan said. “But rest doesn’t always help you. You’ve got to be ready. The way you get ready is you don’t just sit around and wait for the moment.”
Shanahan is also aware that while he’s the leader, he has lots of help in that regard. He’s fine with others delivering his message so long as it’s understood.
“There’s no magical speech that truly motivates people,” Shanahan said. “It’s trying to make sense that people understand what they need to do to perform. When I don’t reach guys like that, hopefully there’s someone who works next to them who knows them in a different way and can reach them.
“That’s why we have lots of people who are leaders because it can never come from one person. If it comes from one person, you’re in trouble.”