49ers HC Kyle Shanahan Could Sense Something Was Off in Training Camp

The 49ers still have fight -- they're just not as good as they used to be. And Shanahan could sense that in training camp.

May 10, 2024; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan watches during the 49ers rookie minicamp at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA. Mandatory Credit: Robert Kupbens-Imagn Images / Robert Kupbens-Imagn Images

After the 49ers' latest loss, Kyle Shanahan was asked if this team has as much fight as previous 49ers teams.

No, Shanahan said. The 49ers still have fight -- they're just not as good as they used to be. And he could sense that in training camp. That's what he said.

On Friday, he was asked to expand on when and how he knew this team would be a disappointment. Here's what he said, courtesy of the 49ers' p.r. department.

Q: You guys, I know you don't want to pay attention to what's being said, but you look at it mathematically, it's tough. You look at the conversation about where the 49ers are. Do you sense the mood or do you want the mood in the locker room to be kind of like denial of that anger or acceptance that this is a tough spot that you're in?

SHANANAN: “We understand where we're at. We go to work and we practice football. We don't discuss it all week, we don't read all week. I get all that. I understand how the NFL works, I understand what our record is at. We knew coming into this year we were going to have to work to, I didn’t feel there right after training camp, I thought we had a chance though to get better as the year went, especially at the beginning of our schedule, which I thought was a lot easier than the second half. I thought we would improve and kind of build that as we went and I was hoping we could be 8-2 when we got to the tough stretch. And I've talked about those three games, which I feel we should have won that we let get away from us, and that got us to 5-5. And then right when we got at the toughest part where I was hoping we would have had some continuity and developed into the team that I thought could really make a run and push some things, that's when we took a, subtracted a lot of guys from us and we're kind of at our toughest spot and that's where we are now which when you don't take advantage of kind of what you had earlier in the year and you are in a tough spot, that's why it makes it extremely hard to get out of. So, like I said earlier in the week, we’ve got to do some special things to get out of this hole we put ourself in and we understand that. But you know, we can talk about it every day we have to come to a press conference or talk about it outside of here. But when it's with each other, it's how to play better football, how to find a way to get a win. And that usually comes down, it only comes down to playing better football.”

Q: President of football operations/general manager John Lynch said on the radio today, “You can't get your ass kicked two weeks in a row and not respond.” And he wants to see a response that’s up to your guys' standards. Do you have any doubt about this team's ability to respond in that way?

SHANAHAN: “Of course we want to respond. We've been on the road two weeks in a row where we've given up over 100-yards rushing in the first half and we've had six turnovers in two games. And when that happens, you're going to get your ass kicked like we did. I want to go out there, I want to stop the run, I want to not turn the ball over. And if that does, we'll have a football game. And if we can get it into a football game, I like our chances of winning and I like our team to do that.”

Q: Getting back to you saying that you thought that you might be 8-2. Is that something that you do every year?

SHANAHAN: “It’s not that. I thought we should have been 8-2. Yeah, we were 5-5 and I believe there were three games that we let get away that we should have won. That doesn't mean that we'd been much of a different team at 8-2 than 5-5, but it's how you improve as the year goes.”

Q: Do you do that every year? Sort of map out how you think it might go?

SHANAHAN: “No, I didn't. I don't. I didn't really do that this year. I'm just saying, I know where our team's at after training camp and I know where I want to be. And I thought we could get there as it got to a harder part of our schedule and we didn't take advantage of the easier part of our schedule, is what I'm saying, with those three games. And when we did get to it, we weren't in a place to give ourselves some cushion, because I thought we were wounded when we got to the harder part and that was a challenge we put ourself in.”

Q: What was your level of concern at the end of training camp then with all the injuries and everything that had happened at that point?

SHANAHAN: “I just knew we weren't where I wanted to be, which rarely you are exactly at the beginning of the year. And that's why you play and that's why you get better as it goes and that's what I was planning to do. That's always the goal. We weren't able to consistently do that. It seemed like every time we took a step forward, we took two steps back and that was kind of how it went. And once you lose some close games, ones you think you should have won, that's the difference between being 5-5 at the halfway point and being 8-2 at the halfway point from a record standpoint, not just the overall where your team's at.”

Q: There's been struggles in situational football on both sides of the ball. As a coach, what can you do to kind of emphasize that or get better at that?

SHANAHAN: “Most of it is schematic answers and stuff, which definitely don't want to talk about in here, but that's all you emphasize. Numbers-wise and stuff, you can have some decent numbers, but if your numbers aren't good in situational football you're rarely going to lead to many points. And points are what it takes to win the game. It’s the stuff we emphasize all the time, stuff we're trying to get better at, challenging guys at and challenging ourselves schematically, also.”

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