Kyle Shanahan offered Steve Wilks a fantastic opportunity a year ago, but it was also mostly unjust to him. Both things. Built on top of each other.
A fantastic job because it was challenging enough that anyone who succeeded would be hailed as a brilliant defensive thinker and potentially offered a head-coaching position at the next convenient time. Difficult because it was laden with outstanding players, resources, responsibility, and high expectations.
Which is why it’s logical to say that Shanahan’s decision to fire Wilks as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator on Wednesday was both an awkward moment of very public Super Bowl-loss scapegoating and the logical conclusion of a failed year-long experiment.
It could have worked if Wilks had established more chemistry with Fred Warner, Nick Bosa, and the rest of the defense in the limited time he had, but he did not. Wilks, who began as a defensive secondary coach, was more restrained and concentrated on the defensive backfield than they were accustomed to. And it became evident by the week that the 49ers’ best defensive players did not fully trust their defensive coordinator.
It could have worked if Shanahan had been willing to make additional adjustments, but he was not. It could’ve worked if the 49ers’ defense had been more focused and less bewildered in the playoffs. But those distracted moments continued to pile up throughout the Green Bay and Detroit games, and even into the final minutes against the Chiefs, when Shanahan called a timeout to get the 49ers out of a defensive call he despised, and then another when linebacker Oren Burks pinballed around the formation, looking anxiously toward the sideline, before a critical third-down snap, trying to figure out where he was supposed to line up. On that play, PatrickMahomes immediately completed a ball for a first down.
Every week, it became evident that the 49ers’ top defensive players did not fully believe in their defensive coordinator.
It could have worked if Shanahan had been willing to make additional adjustments, but he was not. It could’ve worked if the 49ers’ defense had been more focused and less bewildered in the playoffs. But those distracted moments kept piling up through the Green Bay and Detroit games and then all the way into the last minutes against the Chiefs, when Shanahan at one point called timeout to get the 49ers out of a defensive call he hated, and then another when linebacker Oren Burks pinballed around the formation, looking anxiously toward the sideline, before a critical third-down snap trying to figure out where he was supposed to line.
The 49ers simply have a very specific way of running their defense, which was established by Robert Saleh in his three years as defensive coordinator before moving on to the Jets’ top job, and was elevated by DeMeco Ryans, Saleh’s former linebackers coach, in his two years as defensive coordinator before taking his own top job in Houston.
The 49ers needed more of that. It was up to them to comprehend that Wilks was not going to give it to them, but they knew too late. But there’s context: Last year, the 49ers didn’t have a strong in-house candidate to replace Ryans, and they couldn’t sign Vic Fangio, who went to the Dolphins (and is now with the Eagles).
Shanahan and Lynch obviously wanted to preserve the same Seahawks-style Cover 3 strategy that works so well for their personnel, but they also desired an authoritative presence. Wilks possessed the authority, but lacked experience in the Seattle system. So the 49ers’ brass simply hoped he’d pick up on the scheme. But it never occurred. Wilks was always an outsider, looking in.
