The 49ers will do everything they can to finish the 2024 season with a 9-8 record but coach Kyle Shanahan isn’t thinking beyond that.
A 12-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams all but ended their playoff aspirations with games at Miami, at home against Detroit and the regular-season finale in Arizona still to play.
For a team that had played in the NFC Championship Game four out of the last five years and played in two Super Bowls, it’s a huge letdown.
“I’ll talk about 2025 when we get to 2025,” Shanahan said in a conference call with local media Friday. “But you have hope every year. You put together the best team possible, you go and practice and you go out there and you battle. So that’s what we do every single offseason.
“You figure out how to get the best players possible through free agency and the Draft, you try to keep your best players as possible, you go to work and you show up for Week One.”
The 49ers are coming to grips with being an also-ran.
The reasons for the 49ers’ slide go much further than making a bad choice last offseason to bring in linebacker De’Vondre Campbell as a temporary replacement for Dre Greenlaw, who was rehabbing a torn Achilles. The 49ers are working through the process of removing Campbell from the roster either through suspension or release after he declined to play against the Rams.
One thing Shanahan has no intention of doing is questioning his team’s want-to and preparation, even of those qualities have resulted in something foreign for the 49ers in terms of playing clean football.
“I thought our guys showed up ready to play,” Shanahan said. “I thought we battled and a few key plays were the difference in the game. But I thought our guys sold out and I expect them to sell out the next three games.”
While the 49ers’ commitment wasn’t an issue other than Campbell, their execution and playmaking was a huge problem on offense.
The 49ers gained 191 yards of total offense, the second-lowest number since Shanahan arrived in 2017 and took control of the offense. It’s only the second time the 49ers failed to gain 200 yards of offense in 141 games with Shanahan as head coach.
The only time they gained fewer yards was a 31-7 loss to Philadelphia in the NFC Championship game played for more than three quarters without a viable quarterback since Brock Purdy (elbow) and Josh Johnson (concussion) were injured and Purdy had to re-enter the game unable to pass.
The 49ers were so anemic against the Rams they failed to reach the red zone just one week after going 5-for-6 in a 38-13 win over the Chicago Bears. Asked if he could ever remember that happening as a play-caller, Shanahan said, “I’m not sure. I’ve been doing this a long time.”
On the 49ers’ second series, Purdy found tight end George Kittle for a 33-yard gain — the play set up a 53-yard field goal by Jake Moody for a 3-0 lead — and the 49ers didn’t have a snap that gained more than 18 yards the rest of the night. They averaged 3.6 yards per snap and were 3-for-12 on third-down conversions.
“I know that we were averaging like three yards a play at halftime. I don’t know what it was after that,” Kittle said. “They came out with some funky looks once in a while, but I just thought as skill positions, whether it was tight end, quarterback, running back, fullback, wide receiver, I just thought we could have stepped up our game and played better and we didn’t. ”
Purdy insisted there were plays there for the taking — rain or no rain.
“The weather was the weather in the first half, but even with that, I think there were still some ops for us to convert on third down and move the chains,” Purdy said. “In the second half there were drives where we could’ve stayed on the field. I had to be better for this team and didn’t play my best.”
Linebacker Dre Greenlaw (57) eyes Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford Thursday night for the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium. A.P. Photo
GREENLAW’S RETURN
Linebacker Dre Greenlaw’s return was an inspiration to Shanahan and his teammates, with the 49ers’ linebacker registering eight first half tackles and ranging sideline to sideline as if he’d never had a ruptured Achilles.
He departed when his leg tightened up, with Monday bringing the news that it had more to do with fatigue than another injury. With the 49ers getting a mini-bye this weekend before visiting Miami in Week 16, Greenlaw could be good to go for another start.
“He’s got some soreness. He’s day to day,” Shanahan said.
It reminded Shanahan of Greenlaw in Year 3, when he had a groin injury in the opener that needed surgery, and other than 13 snaps in Week 11 against Minnesota, didn’t play again until the regular-season finale against the Rams when he had 12 tackles.
“We needed to win that to go to the playoffs,” Shanahan said. “And that game, I thought he had one of the best games I’ve ever seen from linebacker play and it was looking a lot like that last night too. Exactly the same, it was just only a half a football, but it was amazing.”
THE INJURY FRONT
— Left tackle Trent Williams continues to heal slowly from an ankle injury but Shanahan hopes to get him in the lineup before the season is over.
“He’s trying to get back, but it’s just been a frustrating injury for him,” Shanahan said. ” t hasn’t healed like he or we would like. Having these 10 more days before our next game, hopefully that gives a better chance”
— Defensive end Nick Bosa emerged from the Rams game without any setbacks to his oblique/hip injuries.
“It was awesome to get Nick back and he really helped us,” Shanahan said. “It was a good sign that they didn’t tell me about anything today.”
— Linebacker Dee Winters is day to day with a neck injury.
SNAP JUDGEMENTS
64: Linebacker Fred Warner, cornerback Deommodore Lenoir and cornerback Renardo Green each played all but one snap on defense.
60: One game after playing a career low 15 snaps, safety Ji’Ayir Brown played 60 snaps with Malik Mustapha missing the game with a chest injury. Brown came out of the game with a groin injury and is day to day.
54: Guards Aaron Banks and Dominick Puni, tackles Jaylon Moore and Colton McKivitz, center Jake Brendel and Purdy played every offensive snap.
51: Starting split end Jauan Jennings was targeted nine times from Purdy while missing just three snaps but had just two receptions for 31 yards.
41: The 75.9 percent figure of snap counts was the most for Isaac Guerendo in his rookie season after coming in questionable with a foot sprain. Backup Patrick Taylor Jr. played just three snaps.
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30: Greenlaw made a remarkable return in his first game back from rupturing an Achilles tendon last Feb. 11.
26: Linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, playing with a sore knee, played 26 snaps mostly after Greenlaw’s departure with Campbell refusing to enter the game.
10: Tashaun Gipson got his first work on defense since rejoining the 49ers on Nov. 7.
5: Edge rusher Ronald Beal Jr., who has had trouble getting traction as a pass rusher all season, played sparingly with Nick Bosa (47), Leonard Floyd (39) and Yetur Gross-Matos (31) getting the bulk of the work.
