What Kyle Shanahan had to say about the 49ers after their season-ending loss
The 49ers’ feel-good season is over.
The ending didn’t feel good at all for Kyle Shanahan, who watched his team get thumped in nearly every facet while losing 41-6 to the No. 1 seed Seattle Seahawks on Saturday night at Lumen Field.
The blowout began on the first play with Rashid Shaheed running through San Francisco’s kickoff coverage for a 95-yard touchdown before either offense or defense could touch the field. The 49ers offense turned it over on downs and fumbled on their first two possessions, respectively, and there was no coming back after that.
The Seahawks ended the game scoring the final 24 points, and the 49ers fell to 9-5 in the playoffs under Shanahan. For the first time in his tenure with the team when making the postseason, the 49ers lost before the conference championship round.
Here’s what the 49ers coach had to say about his team and the game to reporters in Seattle afterward.
Shanahan’s message to the team after the blowout
The 49ers, again, were one of the most injured teams in the NFL. They spent portions of their two playoff games fielding what looked like a preseason roster while George Kittle (Achilles), Fred Warner (ankle), Nick Bosa (ACL) and others were observing when San Francisco badly needed them in pads and gold helmets.
“We obviously were real disappointed with today,” Shanahan said. “We obviously didn’t have it today. Credit to (Seattle). Try not to harp on that. ... I just thanked (49ers players) for the whole season, how much they battled throughout everything. I know everyone in there was sick about tonight and the way that went in every facet.
“But I try not to make it about tonight when I was in there with them. Just thanked them for what’ve done all year and been extremely, extremely, proud of everyone in that room throughout this year.”
Shanahan yelling at a key defensive player
Shanahan was caught on the broadcast yelling at starting cornerback Renardo Green on the sideline in the first quarter while the defense was still on the field. The drive ended with Green’s backup, Darrell Luter Jr., getting beaten in coverage by Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a touchdown that made it 17-0.
Shanahan was asked about the interaction afterward, which he downplayed.
“Yeah, nothing in particular. Just coaching him on a certain play, a certain technique, and just coaching aggressively,” he said. “We called him over and tried to talk to him about a certain coverage, and then got him right back in.”
Green returned to the game on the following possession.
On the blowout starting with a kickoff return TD
Seattle fans were in full throat from the first play of the game thanks to Shaheed’s opening touchdown. But Shanahan still believed his team had a chance to fight back despite momentum going the Seahawks’ way so early.
“Not totally. If they score on the opening drive, it’s the same issue too,” Shanahan said. “So, yeah, it sucks when it’s the first play and how it gets the stadium going and everything. But I thought we weathered the storm to a degree. It would have been nice to go down and answer.
“But we got stopped on third-and-1 and then stopped on fourth-and-1. Then the next drive we got the ball and fumbled. So we gave them two scores like that, got it to a 17-0 deficit, which was tough and not at all what we wanted. I thought we weathered the storm when we made it 17-6. I was really hoping going into the half with that score and would feel pretty good about it based off how things went.
“Them scoring at the end of the second quarter I thought was a huge deal in that game. That made it so where we had to answer on the first drive coming out, and we got stopped on fourth-and-1 on that first drive coming out. And then after that the game was out of hand.”
To Shanahan’s point, instead of going into halftime down 17-6 and getting the second half kickoff, the 49ers were down 24-6 after Kenneth Walker’s first of three touchdowns. The game largely felt over, and ultimately, the 49ers neither scored again nor put up a serious threat to do so.
Shanahan’s offense getting dominated, again
The 49ers had their worst offensive performance in the key Week 18 game against Seattle. They didn’t fare much better on Saturday, finishing with just 236 yards of offense, three turnovers, going 0-for-3 on fourth down, and failing to score a touchdown for the second time in three weeks against Mike Macdonald’s outfit.
“Because they got a really good defense. They got a real good defense,” Shanahan said. “I liked how we came to play the first half a lot more. I thought we were much more ready, I thought we were moving the ball. But when you get stopped on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1, nothing counts for it.
“That team doesn’t give up big plays. That’s why they’re No. 1 in the league over the last two years in not giving big plays. And when you get down a lot, it’s going to be tough to get back if you can’t generate those big plays.”
How did Brock Purdy play?
The 49ers signal caller continued his struggles against Macdonald defenses. He completed 15 of 27 for 140 yards with no touchdowns, an interception, a lost fumble and a 54.6 passer rating, his worst of the season.
“I thought no one played great today,” Shanahan said. “No one coached great today. They got us pretty good. But I thought Brock made a number of plays out there. But in the second half it got away from all of us.”
The broadcast said Purdy covered 413 yards on his 33 drop backs, which matched how the game looked. He was running for his life the vast majority of the game.
The loss marked Purdy’s first in Seattle, dropping him to 4-1 there for his career.
How resilient was this 49ers team?
The 49ers were heavy underdogs when they beat the Philadelphia Eagles in the wild card round last week, but they escaped with a come-from-behind victory. They couldn’t replicate it two weeks in a row. A strong argument could be made they simply lost too much talent to injury throughout the season and went up against a far superior roster in Seattle on Saturday night.
Still, the 49ers showed resiliency all season to overcome injuries and finish 12-5 and 4-2 in the NFC West, which was arguably the best division in the NFL, with the Los Angeles Rams still alive entering Sunday’s divisional round game against the Chicago Bears.
“I’ll process that a lot tonight, I’ll do it tomorrow. I’ll do that over the next month,” Shanahan said. “You think about the season always throughout the offseason. Tonight’s a little hard. I tried to articulate that to the guys so we didn’t get caught up so much tonight.
“I’m very proud of a lot of guys in there. I’m extremely disappointed right now. But that doesn’t take away for how I feel about the guys right now.”
Optimistic about next season?
The 49ers let a number of high-priced free agents go in the offseason, including receiver Deebo Samuel, linebacker Dre Greenlaw, safety Talanoa Hufanga, cornerback Charvarius Ward and defensive tackle Javon Hargrave. It was part of a roster-wide recalibration that meant the team would rely more heavily on younger, inexperienced players.
If there’s a silver lining to San Francisco’s season, it’s that those younger players received experience in pressure situations. In theory, the 49ers could benefit from that experience next season.
“I always think about what’s possible and stuff. But it’s definitely the last thing I’ve thought about,” Shanahan said, indicating he’s been focused on trying to keep winning playoff games.
“I haven’t thought about that at all recently and I haven’t thought about it all up to this moment. But a lot of guys got to play this year that haven’t played in the past. That should help us in the future. But we’ll come in Monday, and we’ll deal with all this stuff, put this game to bed, deal with all the players, and very quickly start on our offseason plan and how to build this team the best way possible to give us a shot next year.”
Darnold getting drugged up
Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold was listed as questionable coming into the game due to an oblique injury he suffered during Thursday’s practice. The injury was impactful enough to prevent him from throwing a football until just before the game started. Reports indicated Darnold wasn’t a full participant in pre-game warmups.
Seattle took the pressure off Darnold by rushing for 175 yards on 33 carries, requiring him to attempt just 17 passes. He completed 12 for 124 yards, but more importantly he didn’t commit any turnovers.
Shanahan indicated he knew Darnold was on painkillers to help get through the game.
“Warmups are like that, but it takes a while for the Toradol to kick in,” Shanahan said. “So we knew he’d be fine once kickoff came. Which doesn’t really have to do with pressure. Sometimes it can affect how they throw, but usually when that Toradol kicks in, it doesn’t. Sam played really well today.”
This story was originally published January 17, 2026 at 9:55 PM.
