49ers’ winners & losers from Week 8 win versus Raiders
By Peter Panacy
Winner: Head Coach Kyle Shanahan
Granted, the 49ers’ efforts were against the Raiders, who boast the worst defense in the NFL amid a situation where, seemingly, the majority of the roster has given up on the season.
San Francisco 49ers
Still, this was about as must-win game Kyle Shanahan has had this season. Especially after the Niners suffered an embarrassing 18-15 defeat at the hands of the Cardinals the week before. And the Cardinals are just about as bad, talent-wise, as Oakland.
The win doesn’t mean much for San Francisco in the grand scheme of things. It probably hurts the team’s positioning in the 2019 NFL Draft, and one can’t figure the Raiders were going to offer up much of a challenge anyway.
But winning solves things. First, it should put to rest any chatter Shanahan and Co. aren’t adequately handling this team right now.
Imagine if the 49ers lost, however.
Such a loss would have been about as demoralizing as possible for this squad, especially when considering what the Raiders are going through right now. It would have called into question a lot more than just the record, injuries or whatever has plagued Shanahan’s efforts.
By avoiding that, Shanahan’s job of keeping the locker room together improves dramatically.
And don’t forget how Shanahan’s offense helped make Nick Mullens look like an All-Pro Thursday night. That was impressive.