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Why Kyle Shanahan is the Limit of the 49ers Offense

Shanahan is obsessed with his scheme, not his players.
Grant Cohn|
Why Kyle Shanahan is the Limit of the 49ers Offense
Why Kyle Shanahan is the Limit of the 49ers Offense

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San Francisco 49ers

Bill Walsh used to say the quarterback represented the limit of his offense. That's because he was endlessly creative and even a Hall of Fame quarterback such as Joe Montana held him back from doing everything he could imagine. Which means Walsh built his offense according to what his players could execute.

Kyle Shanahan is different. Shanahan doesn't build his system to fit the talents of his players -- he finds players who fit his scheme. He is in love with his scheme, and that's because it's a very good one. And over time, he has found the perfect players for it. The perfect running back in Christian McCaffrey. The perfect tight end in George Kittle. The perfect left tackle in Trent Williams.

Even the perfect quarterback in Brock Purdy.

Yes, Purdy is perfect for Shanahan's system -- he does everything Shanahan asks of his starting quarterback plus a little more. Shanahan isn't looking for a quarterback who can transcend a bad play call, because Shanahan thinks all his play calls are brilliant. That's why his favorite quarterback is Kirk Cousins.

And that's why Shanahan, not Purdy, is the limit of the 49ers offense. Shanahan is obsessed with his scheme, not his players. That's why called 11 passes for Deebo Samuel in the Super Bowl even though he caught only three of them -- Shanahan was in love with those plays. He wanted to call them even though his job was to find as many ways as possible to get the ball to Brandon Aiyuk, who simply was better than Samuel all season.

Until Shanahan realizes players are more important than plays, he never will win a Super Bowl.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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