Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers coaching staff did an admirable job getting the team out of a 3-5 hole and into the NFC Championship game last season.
In many regards, the San Francisco 49ers’ collective coaching staff should be commended for proverbially righting the ship after the team got off to a horrendous 3-5 start with a nasty four-game losing streak mixed within.
The turnaround ultimately translated into a 10-7 regular-season finish, followed by two road victories in the playoffs and a near win in the 2022 NFC Championship game against the Los Angeles Rams, who eventually went on to become Super Bowl LVI champions.
Was it a perfect season? No, not in the slightest. Did head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. largely exceed expectations?
Probably. FanSided’s initial predictions for the Niners had them going 10-7, only to lose in the Wild Card round.
Considering the team got well beyond that point and within an earshot of making the Super Bowl, that has to turn 2021 into a successful season, right? Coaching had a lot to do with that.
Shanahan, former offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans and now-Chicago Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower all had signature moments over the course of the regular season and into the playoffs.
Yet those were also offset by multiple gaffes, poor roster choices and not-the-best in-game decisions, too.
In the nature of always wanting to improve, it’s always worth pointing out what coaches and assistants did well but also highlighting areas that will ultimately need improvement. As such, Niner Noise dishes out end-of-year grades for Shanahan, Ryans and Hightower while looking ahead to 2022.
End-of-year grade for 49ers special teams coordinator Richard Hightower
Richard Hightower’s signature moment actually came in the 2022 divisional round of the playoffs when EDGE Jordan Willis deflected a Green Bay Packers punt that resulted in safety Talanoa Hufanga’s special teams touchdown, which played a vital role in San Francisco’s victory and advancement to the conference championship.
Sadly, it was one of only a handful of positives from special teams last season.
Football Outsiders ranked the 49ers’ special teams unit 26th in the league, while Pro Football Focus‘ end-of-year rankings had them 21st.
While there are plenty of factors working into those rankings, including kicker Robbie Gould’s successful extra points and field-goal tries, the overall nature of special teams wasn’t good.
Case in point, the Niners’ starting field position in 2021 was on their own 26.9-yard line, which was fourth worst in the league and suggested an abysmal return game.
Yet the biggest and perhaps most glaring problems were the whiffs on fake punts from opponents, notably against the Seattle Seahawks in the regular season and then again versus the Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.
Exactly why Hightower didn’t prepare his team for those scenarios is unknown, but him joining the Bears during the offseason suggests San Francisco wasn’t exactly upset about him departing.
Grade: D-
End-of-year grade for 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans
While the 49ers can’t be overly thrilled with their special teams output in 2021, they should be wholly satisfied with the efforts put in by DeMeco Ryans, his first year on the job after inheriting the position from now-New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh a season ago.
Granted, Ryans inherited a stacked defense and was boosted by the return of EDGE Nick Bosa from last season’s ACL tear.
Still, the expectation was Ryans would go through growing pains in year one of his role, while the Niners offense would have to pick up the proverbial slack. And early on, particularly in Week 1, it looked like that would be the case.
Things finally started clicking for Ryans when he moved defensive tackle Arik Armstead to the inside of the formation, which freed up the pass rush and placed less pressure on Bosa. While Ryans could still afford to be a bit more aggressive with his blitz packages (San Francisco blitzed just 19.8 percent of the time, which was fourth lowest), the ability to adjust his coverage schemes while moving Armstead paid off handsomely.
So did having the wherewithal to bench struggling cornerback Josh Norman late in the season.
As a result, the 49ers finished 2021 with the league’s No. 9-ranked scoring defense and the third-best defense in terms of yards allowed.
Commendable, and it’s likely Ryans will be a head coach in the not-so-distant future.
Grade: A-
End-of-year grades for 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel
It might be hard to totally pin what responsibilities Mike McDaniel held with the Niners during his lone season as offensive coordinator, promoted in 2021 from his previous role as the team’s run-game coordinator.
Kyle Shanahan might have actually called all the plays on offense anyway, leaving McDaniel in more of a role where he could install the offensive game plans on any given week, particularly those where the running game had to be the primary focus.
And there’s little doubt McDaniel’s influence played a large role.
At any rate, McDaniel’s offense finished 13th in scoring over the course of the regular season but seventh in total yards gained, while the run game managed just 4.3 yards per carry (16th).
Read More: 5 Niners who may follow Mike McDaniel to Dolphins
Interestingly enough, San Francisco’s passing game averaged 7.7 yards per attempt, which was best in the league.
Again, it’s hard to quantify just how big a role McDaniel played in that, and some of the various shortcomings with players probably hindered the 49ers from being a top-five unit in the other categories.
Either way, McDaniel’s innovative offense resulted in him landing a head-coaching job with the Miami Dolphins, so he surely had to impress in more ways than one.
Grade: B
End-of-year grades for 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan
Maybe it was a good thing for Kyle Shanahan to deflect some of the play-calling responsibilities over to Mike McDaniel last season, and McDaniel wisely played a large role in allowing wide receiver Deebo Samuel to be used in a variety of different ways, propelling him to his first-ever first-team All-Pro selection.
That was one positive out of many. And as stated before, Shanahan had to dig his team out of that early 3-5 start and get it into a position where a deep playoff run was possible. This was probably aided by one of Shanahans’ previously weaker traits, the red zone, in which the team actually finished the regular season with an NFL-best 66.7 touchdown percentage.
Yet there’s still a lot to criticize.
Shanahan’s handling of the quarterback situation between Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance was still messy, even though both signal-callers downplayed the issue, and the relatively frequent lack of use of his best players, such as Samuel and tight end George Kittle, in key situations during games is notably baffling.
Particularly on neither player getting touches when the Niners were looking to grind down the clock against the Rams in the NFC Championship game and had a 2nd-and-1, ultimately deciding to punt.
Why punt in Rams territory in that situation, too?
San Francisco’s fourth-quarter offense wasn’t good during the regular season, and that problem was magnified during the playoffs as well.
All told, Shanahan is still a very, very good head coach. Yet he still has a number of areas in which he can improve.
Grade: B-