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Why the 49ers Probably Won't Fire Defensive Coordinator Nick Sorensen

Let me explain.

Grant Cohn

Jul 25, 2024; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen answers questions at a press conference following Day 3 of training camp at SAP Performance Facility. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images
Jul 25, 2024; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen answers questions at a press conference following Day 3 of training camp at SAP Performance Facility. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images / D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images
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Based on recent 49ers history, Nick Sorensen deserves to be fired.

Let me explain.

Last season, the 49ers defensive coordinator was Steve Wilks, who replaced DeMeco Ryans when he became the head coach of the Houston Texans. Wilks inhereited a defense that gave up 16.3 points per game under Ryans in 2022.

Under Wilks, the 49ers defense gave up 17.5 points per game, or 1.2 points per game more than the previous season. And then in the Super Bowl, they gave up just 19 points in regulation to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. But the 49ers lost in overtime, and a few days later they fired Wilks. Tough business.

Cut to the present.

Under Sorensen, the 49ers defense has given up 22.9 points per game this season. Not great. That's an increase of 5.4 points per game from 2023 when Wilks was the defensive coordinator. So if Wilks deserved to get fired, Sorensen definitely deserves to get fired, right?

Not so fast.

Sorensen's defense had lots of injuries this season. And yet, in a do-or-die game this past Thursday night, the 49ers gave up 12 points and no touchdowns. Sorensen rose up. Meanwhile, Kyle Shanahan offense's scored a measly 6 points. Which means Sorensen outcoached Shanahan in the most important game of the season.

And that's why the 49ers can't fire Sorensen. Because as much as the defense has regressed this season, the offense has regressed even more. In 2023, the 49ers offense scored 28.9 points per game. This season, it has scored just 22.4 points per game. That's 6.5 points per game fewer than in 2023. And that's a huge dropoff.

So before the 49ers fire Sorensen, they first would have to fire Shanahan, and I don't think they have the guts to do that just yet.

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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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