San Francisco 49ers in midst of Super Bowl malaise; Rams know the feeling
His team at 2-3, including an 0-3 record at home, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is rallying his players -- at least what’s left of the core group that’s not in the training room.
The Niners are missing foundational players due to injury like defensive end Nick Bosa and cornerback Richard Sherman.
Offensive playmakers like Jimmy Garoppolo and running back Raheem Mostert have missed games due to injury this year, and Garoppolo is still dealing with an ankle issue.
And against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, Shanahan will be without another glue guy on defense, with linebacker Kwon Alexander ruled out due to a high ankle sprain.
Along with that, San Francisco traded the best 3-tech defensive tackle not named Aaron Donald to the Indianapolis Colts during the offseason in DeForrest Buckner and lost Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Staley to retirement.
With a roster depleted on talent and facing a leadership void, it’s no wonder Shanahan’s Niners are struggling after making an impressive run to the Super Bowl last season. But Shanahan isn’t looking for sympathy.
“It’s frustrating,” Shanahan said. “The Super Bowl hanging over, it’s just the big questions you’ve got to answer all the time and especially when you don’t have any offseason. So it kind of lingers even longer because I mean, the first time we came back after the Super Bowl was training camp. So, it was kind of right there with the questions and stuff.
“But as far as going through it, I mean, it has no correlation with anything. We’re trying to figure out our team now and battle through a number of injuries and we’re trying to play better football. But to compare that to a year before anything, we have a different team this year. You have a different team every year and that’s something we’re working through.”
Shanahan’s good friend in Rams head coach Sean McVay went through a similar situation last year, with his team finishing 9-7 and out of the playoffs after representing the NFC in the Super Bowl after the 2018 season.
“This league is so competitive,” McVay said. “I know the one thing that we won’t allow, is to let whatever the first five games have been to not know what a great football team it is that we’re getting ready to play against. The fact that they’ve had to overcome so many injuries from some key players, I think, is a reflection of what a good job they’ve done when you look at what they did against the Giants or the Jets.
“In a lot of instances, you give credit to Miami, but you watch that game and I think the score isn’t necessarily indicative of how it kind of got out of hand and some different things that led to it being the way that it was. But it’s a great football team. Kyle is a great coach; he’ll have those guys ready to go. I just think this league is so competitive year in and year out. Every single year presents new challenges and that’s definitely something that I’ve learned in a short amount of time and I think all these guys would say the same thing.”
Aaron Donald echoes McVay’s comments, saying the Rams are not looking past an NFC West division opponent like San Francisco.
“It’s a divisional game, a team we play twice a year,” Donald said. “So, you know, it’s always going to be a dog fight. You know what to expect. You have to go to that mindset that, ‘We’re back in the division now. That’s when it anchors down, I have to do a little bit more now.’”
