Still reeling following the heartbreaking OT loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII and the incessant criticism he’s received for blowing another big game, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan inexplicably fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks.
ESPN’s Mike Greenberg Says Steve Wilks Scapegoated For Kyle Shanahan’s Deficiencies
Shanahan, who’s been a part of three Super Bowls (two as an head coach and one as a offensive coordinator) where his teams have blown 10-point leads or more, decided that he and Wilks were no longer aligned, and surprisingly pulled the plug on the marriage after just one season.
Even stranger is Shanahan did this knowing that there were no defensive coordinators available since the NFL hiring spree of head coaches began at season’s end. Now Wilks is unjustly on the outside looking in.
Shanahan, who’s been the main culprit for the three Super Bowl losses he’s suffered, will now look to find a replacement for a guy who did his job good enough to hold the Kansas City Chiefs to one regulation touchdown in the Super Bowl.
The move by Shanahan has been questioned across all media platforms.
During Thursday’s episode of ESPN’s Get Up, Mike Greenberg said this:
“It just has the feeling of a scapegoat.”
He even tweeted this when the move was announced on Wednesday.
Colleague Damien Woody chimed in and took it a step further and said, “Shanahan doesn’t get it.”
Wilks Did Well With Defense Despite Philosophical Differences
Kyle Shanahan had no answers for why he choked away another colossal game and his answer for why he gave Wilks the boot also supports the assumption that the head coach needed somebody to blame.
“It just ended up being not the right fit,” said 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan during a Wednesday press conference.
If Wilks wasn’t the right fit, it’s not the veteran defensive play-caller’s fault. Wilks wasn’t allowed to come in and run his defense. He was tasked with running the defense built by former coordinators Robert Saleh (Jets head coach) and DeMeco Ryans (Texans head coach). Saleh’s defense gave up 21 unanswered points in under eight minutes in the Niners’ 31-20 Super Bowl 54 loss to the Chiefs.
As for Ryans, his defense was blown out 31-7 in last year’s NFC Championship Game by the Eagles 31-7, and neither was fired, with Saleh returning to the Niners the following season before becoming the Jets coach in 2021. Ryans left to become the Texans head coach following last season and made the playoffs as a rookie.
In 2023, the Niners finished eighth in total defense, which is a drop from No. 1 the previous season. But they still only surrendered 31 total touchdowns, which was second to the Baltimore Ravens (26). They also finished fourth in scoring defense (18.8 per game) and, most important, went to the Super Bowl.
Not bad at all, and definitely not something someone should be fired for. But Shanahan found his scapegoat for his shortcomings, and it just so happened to be the guy who’s been done wrong before.
Wilks Has Been Scapegoated Before
This isn’t Wilks’ first time been scapegoated. When he was hired as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals in 2018 he was given one season with at the helm.
The team drafted the aloof Josh Rosen in the first round, and the GM pressured Wilks to play the rookie, who is currently not even in the league. The team went 3-13 and Wilks was fired at season’s end. He was replaced by Kliff Kingsbury, who arrived with a losing record at Texas Tech, and the team drafted Kyler Murray No. 1 overall.
In 2019, Wilks helped the Browns’ defense jump from 30th to 20th in one season, only to be let go when the team fired head coach Freddie Kitchens — who was in way over his head — after one season.
Wilks didn’t coach in 2020 or 2021, but returned to the sidelines in 2022 as the defensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers.
He was promoted to interim head coach when the team moved on from Matt Rhule and led them to a respectable 6-6 record over the last 12 weeks. Despite the marked improvement and the players vouching for Wilks, owner David Tepper hired Frank Reich to be the permanent head coach.
The classless move by Shanahan just adds to the misery that’s been Steve Wilks’ career ever since he was promoted beyond a position coach. He clearly was hung out to dry and, like Stephen A. Smith has often referenced, Wilks is once again a qualified Black coach who’s a victim of the “old boys club.”
