For the crowd calling for Kyle Shanahan's head, the unlikeliness of the 49ers firing him just received another boost from a Niners insider.
It's understandable why some within the San Francisco 49ers fanbase would want head coach Kyle Shanahan fired.
His team is off to a boring and uninspiring 5-5 start, last place within the NFC West. Despite boasting a plethora of All-Pro talent on both sides of the ball, as well as measuring toward the top of offensive leaderboards in plenty of categories, the Niners have vastly underachieved this season.
Three blown leads in the fourth quarter to NFC West rivals, including the Week 11 home debacle versus the Seattle Seahawks, only reinforced the anger and vitriol directed at Shanahan.
In a "what have you done for me lately?" kind of league, it's natural for fans and critics to overlook the entire body of work Shanahan has put together. And it's easy to dismiss the reality that good head coaches don't proverbially "grow on trees" (remember the dark days in San Francisco with coaches like Mike Nolan, Mike Singletary, Jim Tomsula and Chip Kelly).
Perhaps the biggest reason why the 49ers won't fire Shanahan at any point soon is the fact they just extended him beyond 2025, and paying out the remainder of his owed salary isn't exactly something CEO Jed York and team ownership would want to do after having to do it with both Tomsula and Kelly, previously.
But there's another reason why Shanahan is nowhere close to being fired.
49ers insider says Kyle Shanahan isn't 'losing the locker room'
There are typically three reasons why teams fire head coaches if money isn't a factor:
- Results (or lack thereof)
- Clashes with ownership and/or the front office
- Losing the locker room
True, the NFL is a results-based business. And Shanahan has yet to win a Super Bowl despite multiple trips deep into the postseason during his tenure.
But Shanahan's body of work is infinitely superior to many of his predecessors, the lone recent exception being head coach Jim Harbaugh and his run from 2011 through 2014.
Harbaugh, however, clashed with the front office. And that led to his "mutual" parting of ways with the organization in 2015, hence the No. 2 reason coaches can be dismissed.
That leaves one more reason for a coach to be fired.
Speaking on 95.7 The Game, the San Jose Mercury News' Cam Inman declared Shanahan hasn't lost the locker room, and his crop of players are still buying into what he's trying to sell.
More of @CamInman on @MorningRoast957 re: Kyle Shanahan pic.twitter.com/MDtBnpgnN0
— Rob “Stats” Guerrera (@StatsOnFire) November 21, 2024
"I don't sense that he's losing the locker room or his message is getting stale," Inman said, as shared above by Rob Guerrera of the Gold Standard Podcast. "Kyle's message evolves because what he does in team meetings is he points out what's going wrong and how to fix it.
"He's very much more of a teacher and an instructor than a drill sergeant that's ranting and raving for no reason."
This aligns with what many a Niners player, both past and present, have said about the head coach. Current team leaders like linebacker Fred Warner and tight end George Kittle have taken on accountability for the lackluster results, while former San Francisco cornerback Richard Sherman once pointed out Shanahan's directness is the kind of approach players ultimately appreciate.
If Shanahan had lost the locker room, particularly the leaders within it, then his hot seat would definitely be hot.
He hasn't, therefore it isn't.