Kyle Shanahan Has No Answers Right Now

He's getting lots of difficult questions, because he deserves them. But he's not answering them.

No more excuses for Kyle Shanahan.

It's Year 5 of his tenure as the 49ers head coach. 

Win. It's time. No one wants to hear about injuries or mistakes or bad luck. Just win.

In the past, fans and journalists were extremely understanding of Shanahan's failures. Not anymore. Now he's getting lots of difficult questions, because he deserves them. 

But he's not answering them. Not really. He's listening, and giving long, patient responses, but not actually telling anyone how he plans to make the 49ers better. He's just reassuring reporters that he's not mad at them for asking hard questions.

"I totally understand," Shanahan said recently. "And I totally expect everything that goes with the territory. I think our fans have treated us great since we've been here. I think John Lynch and I came in, we knew what we were signing up for in those first two years. You never like to say you're planning on having a bad season, but we understood coming in where we were at. And we knew it was going to be very tough to get to where we wanted to go to. And we did that by our third year, which was about a year ahead of where we kind of planned on, which we were very proud of and came up just a little bit short of that Super Bowl and right into COVID and we're trying to run it back and quickly in that year after the Super Bowl, things didn't go well. 

"And we did have a disappointing season, which I know there were a number of circumstances that people did talk about, which I do appreciate that, but I totally understand how it goes. And I think people still, even though they were pretty cool about it, they were frustrated last year and we were extremely disappointed. And going into this year the same thing. It is a different team. You're not just going to sit there. I know people make expectations and all that, but that doesn't totally affect us. I go with OTAs and I go with training camp and try to coach our guys and get us as good as we can be and I don't have us there yet. 

"We've had some circumstances this year and just like almost everyone else in the league has and we're sitting here at 2-4, we've lost four games in a row that I believe all four we were capable of winning, which is where you want to start. You want to have a chance to win every game you go in, but it's definitely starting with being up to me and going down to everyone else that we've got to find a way to win some of these close games. And win some of these games that we have found a way to lose. 

"We're sitting here at 2-4 and there's a lot of football left to play. And I know there's a lot of stuff we could talk about and I’ve got to do that in press conferences, but when the press conferences are over, I’ve got one focus and that's trying to make sure to find a way that we play as good as we possibly can against Chicago, so when this week ends we’re 3-4.”

Translation: We were a Super Bowl team in 2019, some weird stuff happened in 2020 and this season isn't over yet. So you're overreacting. I understand why you're asking tough questions -- it's part of the business -- but I don't actually have to provide answers.

I'm not moved by Shanahan's patience and bigheartedness. He acts like he won two Super Bowls, but he's no champion. He's a head coach whose winning percentage is a mere .443. Just answer the questions and make the answers good. Convince us that you're the right man for the job. Because we're beginning to doubt you.