The San Francisco 49ers‘ 2024 season has not gone according to plan.
After a trip to and gut-wrenching defeat in Super Bowl LVIII last season, hopes were high that the 49ers could make another march toward and seal the deal on a Super Bowl championship this season.
Following an embarrassing 38-10 loss at the Green Bay Packers in Week 12, the 49ers’ record now sits at 5-6 and San Francisco is in danger of missing the playoffs altogether.
With frustrations mounting, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked on Wednesday how he would respond to the criticism and how he would grade his own job performance thus far this season.
“That’s up to you guys to grade me,” Shanahan said. “I work as hard as I can to get a win that week and we haven’t won as much as I believe we should have. We’ve lost three games that I feel we were capable of winning and should have won. Those are the ones that are the toughest.
“In terms of grading myself, I’m not going to grade myself. I’m going to work as hard as I can. I’m the same guy I am right now that I’ve always been. We’ve got to overcome some things that we’re in right now. I believe we can overcome them, but we put ourselves in a tough bind and that’s why we’ve got to be extremely good and successful here going forward to be able to overcome that stuff.”
When asked about his team’s current vibes, Shanahan maintained that the 49ers’ locker room remains tight-knit.
But, the eighth-year head coach is well aware of the criticism that may exist outside the 49ers’ building and discussed the importance of his group not living online.
“The vibe in our locker room is exactly how you would think it’d be,” Shanahan said. “We’re upset with where we’re at in our record, but we’ve got a tight group and we play together. I think if you live in the world online, whether you’re dealing with our profession or your kids dealing with social issues in school, you’re not going to be happy if you’re dealing in the world online.
“And I’ve definitely coached long enough that I don’t deal in that world. Only online I look at is usually movie stuff and rap battles and funny things that animals do. Good or bad. When you listen to good stuff, like that’ll mess you up more than anything. And then when you listen to bad stuff it’ll crush you. That’s not why any of us do this. You’ve got to work with younger guys on that. I think it’s harder just because of the world that they’ve been brought up in. But don’t make someone else’s reality your reality. You’ve got to focus on what your job is and never get away from that.”
Perceptions in the NFL can change in a heartbeat. With San Francisco in the midst of its second two-game losing streak this season, a win on Sunday night would dramatically shift the narrative surrounding this team in a positive direction.
San Francisco travels to Buffalo (9-2) on Sunday, Dec. 1 with kickoff set for 5:20 p.m. PT and the game set to air on NBC and stream on Peacock. The 49ers currently sit one game out of first place in the NFC West.
In San Francisco’s latest injury update, starting quarterback Brock Purdy was listed as a limited participant. Purdy did not play in the 49ers’ Week 12 loss at the Packers.
