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49ers HC Kyle Shanahan Scoffs When Asked to Assess Himself

Kyle Shanahan is having one of the worst seasons of his professional career.

Grant Cohn

Dec 30, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan walks the sidelines during the fourth quarter against the Detroit Lions at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
Dec 30, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan walks the sidelines during the fourth quarter against the Detroit Lions at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images / Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
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SANTA CLARA -- Kyle Shanahan is having one of the worst seasons of his professional career.

Just last year, he was in the Super Bowl. This year, his starting quarterback has played 15 games and yet the 49ers are still 6-10. Shanahan was not able to galvanize his players or adjust his play calling to win more games, which is why the 49ers are one of the most disappointing teams in the league this season.

If they had a leader of men as a head coach, someone such as Jim Harbaugh or Dan Campbell, I doubt the 49ers would be four games under .500. Those two would have found a way to salvage this season, fix the 49ers' deteriorating culture and lead them to the playoffs. Under Shanahan, the wheels fell off.

On Wednesday, I asked him if he's frustrated with his individual performance this season.

Shanahan looked away and scoffed. "I don't understand how to answer that question," he said. "I work as hard as I can at my individual performance. So I'm frustrated with our season, I'm responsible for everything, so I think you can figure that out."

No, I can't, Kyle. Spell it out for me. It seems like you're unwilling to say that you had a bad season. It's OK -- you can say it. We all know it. Your players know it. Your bosses know it. You know it. You fell far short of your standard this season. You stuck with Deebo Samuel two months too long. You buried Ricky Pearsall all season for no reason. You were too aggressive with players who were coming off injuries. And you were too pass-happy in the second half of close games.

You get a failing grade for this season. Do better.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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