49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Faces Special Teams Challenges

In recent years, the San Francisco 49ers have experienced much success under the leadership of head coach Kyle Shanahan. However, one persistent issue has been the performance of the team’s special teams unit, which has often seemed to be a thorn in Shanahan’s side. Despite the team’s overall strong performances, several special teams errors have proven costly, particularly in close losses early this season.

Shanahan has consistently emphasized a cautious approach to special teams strategy, prioritizing stability in the kick return game over more dynamic, yet riskier, options. During a press conference on Tuesday, Shanahan addressed media inquiries about his approach, acknowledging that his previous comments may not have clearly conveyed his intentions. “Yeah, I don’t know if I always had the right words for that,” Shanahan stated. “But what I’m trying to say is, you’d like to build a team to where you don’t feel you have to return a kick, a punt or have a fake kick or a fake punt or you don’t have to rely on something like that to get a win. I like to feel that, you feel like you can do it between the offense and defense of just beating someone.”

Shanahan further elaborated on his philosophy, noting, “I think in this league, one of the best ways to win games is to not lose a game, to not find a way to lose it. A lot of games are given away. When it comes to special teams, with the amount of touchbacks there are and stuff, just extra points, getting a punt off, those are opportunities to lose it if any of those are blocked.” He explained that there are only a limited number of special teams plays in a game, adding, “You don’t want to be overly risky on trying to win it there when you’re only going to have 10 to 15 plays. You take out all the touchbacks and stuff, it’s even less than that. So you don’t want to go out of your way to be risky to try to get your stuff there. You’d rather do it with people who are out there for 70 straight plays.”

While Shanahan’s conservative strategy may seem logical, given his successful track record as an offensive play-caller, it raises questions about whether such an approach might inadvertently lead to mistakes. In the fast-paced and unpredictable nature of football, asking players to minimize risks could potentially cause hesitation and overthinking, contributing to errors. Regardless of the underlying causes, the 49ers’ special teams coordinator, Brian Schneider, remains focused on refining the unit’s performance and reducing costly errors in future games.