What’s next for the 49ers? After 2020 pummeling, they face offseason upheaval
After 32 days living out of a hotel, dressing for practice and getting treatment in a convention ball room, and doing all their team meetings over video chats, the 49ers are coming home to the Bay Area. They hope to get a semblance of normalcy while the world continues to struggle through the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’m very happy the season’s over,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said.
Said defensive lineman Arik Armstead: “Seemed like the longest year ever.”
The feeling from the team after Sunday’s season-ending 26-23 loss to the Seattle Seahawks was part relief, part frustration and part uncertainty.
One thing on everyone’s mind was the excitement to get on a plane and leave Glendale, Arizona and return to Northern California. No more daily COVID-19 screenings, no more protocols.
The frustration stems from another disappointing loss in a winnable game. The 49ers (6-10) led the Seahawks by 10 points in the fourth quarter, only to allow three straight touchdown drives, giving the NFC West champions their 12th win of the season.
“I told them to hold their heads high,” Shanahan said. “It wasn’t a moral victory or anything because I believe we should have won the game. There was a couple of plays that we just needed to make at the end that we didn’t and they did.”
San Francisco’s defense continued to play hard and sound, as it did in last week’s victory over the Arizona Cardinals. But Wilson got hot in the fourth quarter, completing 9 of 13 for 80 yards and two touchdowns while Seattle’s running game picked up, averaging 6.5 yards on 14 carries. Tyler Lockett was a problem throughout, catching 12 of his 14 targets for 90 yards and two touchdowns.
The 49ers offense, behind third-string quarterback C.J. Beathard, needed more from its bare-bones unit. The offense punted on its first four series, registering just one first down, before reeling off three straight field goal drives and a touchdown to give them a 16-6 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Then Seattle went on a 20-0 run. Running back Jeff Wilson Jr. cut it to a three-point lead with his second touchdown of the game with 1:26 remaining, but it was too late as the team failed to get the onside kick in the final moments.
Offseason uncertainty for 49ers
The uncertainty stems from the question marks that lie ahead. San Francisco is expected to have roughly 40 free agents this spring. Some will come back (left tackle Trent Williams seems like an obvious priority) while some will leave, which could include cornerback Richard Sherman, who’s been as influential as anyone since he arrived in 2018.
Another key figure likely on his way out is defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, who will begin interviewing for head coaching jobs this week. Saleh will interview with the Atlanta Falcons on Monday before other expected interviews with his hometown Detroit Lions and potentially the Houston Texans. The New York Jets didn’t waste any time and fired their head coach, Adam Gase, on Sunday night.
Saleh’s departure would create a unique test of continuity the 49ers haven’t dealt with since Shanahan was hired in 2017. Shanahan’s staff has mostly been intact, with last season’s secondary coach, Joe Woods, being arguably the most notable departure. The team hasn’t had its coaching staff or front office pilfered just yet, but that could be coming. Top personnel executive Adam Peters could be a candidate for general manager openings.
Shanahan gave a strong endorsement for Saleh for whatever lies ahead.
“I know how much the players respect Robert as a coach and love him as a person,” Shanahan said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with people if they don’t hire him.”
“He knows about players. He knows who knows what they’re talking about (and) who doesn’t know what they’re talking about. And he also knows how to deal with people. So, I hope everyone’s not very smart and doesn’t hire them so I can keep him. But, I’m expecting not to have him.”
One player the 49ers can thank for Saleh for finding is linebacker Fred Warner.
Saleh, a former linebackers coach, became enamored with Warner leading up to the 2018 draft, saying he had the best pre-draft interview of prospect he’s been a part of. The BYU alum went from Day 1 starter as a rookie to a Pro Bowler by his third season, with a shot to get his first All-Pro nod and a market-setting contract this spring.
Saleh’s work with Warner won’t be easy to replicate, but that type of identification and development will be paramount if the 49ers are going to reload their roster and get back to contention in 2021.
“He’s meant so much to me, just from the moment coming out in the draft, the belief he had in me and has continued to have in me since I stepped on the field with the 49ers,” Warner said Sunday. “I can’t thank him enough for just riding with me. That guy is an amazing coach. If he does get the opportunity to go and be a head coach somewhere, I’ll be so happy for him. I know he’ll do an amazing job.”
Injuries sap 49ers’ ‘Revenge Tour’
The 49ers 2020 season, of course, did not live up to expectations. The “Revenge Tour” never got underway because injuries to key players mounted in the season opener and it never felt like the breaks and tears relented. It was odd that Sunday reserve defensive end Dion Jordan’s knee injury, which Shanahan called minor, was the only injury announced after the game.
The last two years provided the players stark lessons. Last season was about finishing and maximizing every moment coming out of the devastating Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs.
This season, marred by injuries, COVID-19 and an unwelcome exile to Arizona, provided a different level of frustration and disappointment. But players are hoping the team can be better from what it experienced.
“I think it was a hard deal for this year, especially to have the way last year ended, in the last six or seven minutes, the heartbreak that that was,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “I think everybody was so ready to get back and get going, and then we had to put the breaks on it until we got back to training camp because of the way the world situation was this year. It was a very, very different ending to both seasons.”
McGlinchey mentioned the list of injured players — including Nick Bosa, Richard Sherman, George Kittle, Jimmy Garoppolo, Deebo Samuel, Raheem Mostert, Dee Ford, Jaquiski Tartt and others — and how it created a silver lining even though the results each week weren’t what the team wanted or expected coming into the year.
“The perfect example is Kerry Hyder,” McGlinchey said. “The job that he did for our organization, for our defense, for our entire team, is something that is truly special. And it’s people like that just give you these lessons of no matter what the circumstances are, no matter what the success of our team has been, there’s people you got to fight for, and he’s one of those guys.”
Hyder was an unheralded free agent addition last spring that was expected to have a bit role as a rotational pass rusher. But because of the season-long injuries to Bosa and Ford, he played a far more prominent role than expected. He was on of the very few players to appear in every game and he led the team with a career-high 8.5 sacks.
“He got an opportunity and ran with it and it’s another opportunity for us, an example for us to learn from, to continue to grind forward and take what we can from the past two seasons,” McGlinchey said.
The other side of that, however, is Hyder’s looming free agency and the uncertainty of his future. He might have priced himself out of returning to the 49ers given how he produced at a premium position.
That goes to show how fragile NFL success can be, which has to be the biggest lesson the 49ers took away from 2020 as they ride home from the desert after 32 days away.
This story was originally published January 4, 2021 at 7:01 AM.
