A lot of things went wrong for the San Francisco 49ers in their loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football. However, one play from the game has stuck in the mind of 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and he seems to have thrown his defensive coordinator under the bus because of it.
With 16 seconds to go before halftime, 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks called an all-out blitz on third-and-long. Unfortunately, that decision resulted in Vikings rookie wide receiver taking advantage of a one-on-one matchup and scoring a 60-yard touchdown before the half.
Addison’s second touchdown of the evening was a huge momentum boost for the Vikings entering halftime while also simultaneously deflating the 49ers after they just cut the deficit to three points on the possession before.
On Wednesday, Shanahan addressed the media and told reporters that Wilks understands he made the wrong play call in that scenario: “Yeah he knows… He knows he messed up on that call.”
Shanahan made it clear that there is a time and place when it comes to bringing the pressure and dialing up blitz plays. “There was no necessary need for that just because of the time. I have no problem with that play call, but when it’s that time you can’t do that,” he stated.
If Shanahan was so situationally aware, why didn’t he do anything to stop Wilks from making that play call during the game? After all, he is the head coach. He has the final say on every football decision that is made by and for the 49ers but chose to let Wilks call the blitz.
Regardless of who is responsible, the 49ers will have to clean up their act after losing two straight games if they want to avoid a third consecutive loss when they play the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 8.
