Stock Down: Kyle Shanahan
Kyle Shanahan's stock was in the penthouse last season.
It's not in the boiler room yet, but it's come down from the penthouse, which is on the 12th floor of this fictional apartment building, all the way to the second floor. It's not at the lobby or the basement or the boiler room, but the arrows seems to be going down on the elevator.
Here are some reasons Shanahan's stock has taken a dive.
1. He didn't have his team ready to play against a crummy team -- the Miami Dolphins -- and a nobody quarterback -- Ryan Fitzpatrick.
2. He hasn't had his team ready to play all season. He beat the two schlemiel teams in New Jersey. Ok, great. But they haven't won a game.
So Shanahan hasn't had the 49ers ready to play and they can't win at home. That's very bad.
I'm going to write something else. Shanahan is supposed to be a genius -- people use that word with Shanahan all the time. It's the same word people used for Bill Walsh.
Shanahan is such a genius, in the last two games he managed to make both of his quarterbacks look really bad. How much genius does it take to do that?
Let's talk Nick Mullens first. Here's a guy who hadn't started much, who hadn't had much experience. I would think, at the very beginning of the game, make it easy for him. Let him get in the flow of the game. Don't make him do what you would ask Jimmy Garoppolo to do if Jimmy could even do it anymore.
With that running game, the 49ers could have handed off a lot with Mullens at quarterback. Instead, they opened the game with three-straight passes.
Shanahan didn't do Mullens any favors. And it's Shanahan's job as offensive coordinator/head coach to help his quarterback, not to say, "You're going to run my game plan no matter what." Shanahan's job is to ask, "What can I do for you?"
And then, Shanahan did the same thing the following week with Garoppolo. The 49ers had Raheem Mostert back from injury and a monster running game that was effective, and Mostert got just 11 carries all game.
What the hell is that?
Shanahan saw Garoppolo was shaky -- help him out. Don't call 20 drop backs and just 11 runs in the first half, which is what Shanahan did.
Shanahan called a very bad game against the Dolphins, and he did it at his team's expense and his quarterback's expense. And again, it felt like Shanahan was saying, "I have a system and I'm going to run it -- it doesn't matter who my players are."
Good coaches would say, "Forget my system -- what's going to work today?" And Shanahan didn't do that the past two games.
For that, I'm putting him on the second floor.
