Steve Wilks Faces Immense Pressure With the 49ers

There won't be much room for a margin of error for Steve Wilks going into the 2023 regular season as the 49ers' defensive coordinator.

Steve Wilks is now the new defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers.

This was the most glaring hire for the 49ers to make with Vic Fangio taking the same position with the Miami Dolphins. Wilks is a coach who I advocated for as a great hire for the 49ers as I have explained why in a previous article here.

Still, as much as I like the Wilks hire, it does not change the fact that he faces immense pressure as the 49ers defensive coordinator. The defense has been the driving force of success ever since the first playoff/Super Bowl run in 2019. Robert Saleh built and ran an elite defense, while DeMeco Ryans ended up transcending it. I do not expect Wilks to improve upon an already near perfect defense, but he can't have the defense suffer a significant drop-off under his watch. That just will not be tolerable with the defense carrying much of the season the last three years.

Each and every season the 49ers offense starts off slow. It is thanks to the defense that has allowed them that flexibility to figure it out four-to-eight games into the season. Should Wilks not manage to sustain the defense at a high-level, they will find themselves relying on the offense to be the driving force, which hasn't been the case in any season. Considering the 49ers are going into 2023 with question marks at quarterback, I would lean toward the offense starting the season slow once again.

Failure will be looked upon for Wilks if the defense falls off and he will surely be called upon to lose his job. It is not like Wilks has a tremendous track record in his previous stints with other teams, despite how impressive he was as interim head coach of the Panthers. This is probably going to be the last chance that Wilks will ever get to be a defensive coordinator. If he fails with the 49ers given all the talent and stability, he won't ever come back from that. There just can't be a bunch of games where the 49ers lose with the defense being the issue.

However, I do not believe he will fail at all.

There has never been a defense, as a matter of fact there has never been an overall team that Wilks has been on that is of the elite standing like the Niners. He is getting to work with a defense that has a heap of talent. Their linebackers are arguably the best in the league with a strong defensive line and two adequate starting cornerbacks with an All Pro at safety. Wilks is walking into a situation where he has all the tools in the world to be successful. He would have to either purposely sabotage the defense or just outright be in over his head.

I do not think he will nor should he fail even with the immense pressure he faces.