Little (if anything) has gone according to plan for the 49ers this season. Monday night’s loss leaves the team with a 6-10 record, but major changes on the sidelines or in the front office will not be coming. 
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Owner Jed York said prior to last night’s game that head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch will be back for 2025 (h/t the San Francisco Standard via ESPN). That comes as no surprise given the pairing’s track record of success, but it will end speculation about their respective futures. Shanahan and Lynch have been in place together since 2018.
That stretch has included four trips to the NFC title game along with a pair of Super Bowl appearances. No championships have been won under the Lynch/Shanahan regime, but that (general) run of consistent success resulted in new contracts last year. A dismissal of either would have therefore come as a major surprise even in the wake of this year’s underwhelming showing. Injuries have played a major factor on both sides of the ball, and a return to health from several key players will be welcomed in 2025.
Shanahan’s name has been floated as a potential candidate for a team looking to replace its head coach, with the Bears in particular being mentioned as a landing spot. Lynch emphatically shot down that speculation earlier this month, however, and Shanahan himself stated his desire to remain in San Francisco for the foreseeable future. Any movement in his case would have required York and the 49ers’ ownership group changing course only one year after authorizing an extension. To little surprise, that will not happen.
Once Week 18 comes and goes, attention will turn to the offseason and the multitude of key decisions which need to be made. Quarterback Brock Purdy will be eligible for an extension, while several key players remain on track for free agency. Safety Talanoa Hufanga and linebacker Dre Greenlaw are among those high on the team’s list of preferred targets for a re-signing, but expensive pacts for San Francisco’s offensive core will make it difficult on a number of fronts to commitment to new contracts elsewhere on the roster.
A return to contention will be expected for next year in San Francisco’s case, especially with continuity regarding the team’s top decision-makers. As the coaching landscape takes shape over the coming weeks, meanwhile, Shanahan’s name will no longer emerge as one to watch.
Glad to see an owner who actually gets it and understands. Not a Niners fan but appreciate what Shanahan and Lynch have done there, and how they have built the franchise up again.
He did fumble the Harbuagh situation so wouldn’t credit him much. Lynch and KS were never in trouble this year because they still have to figure out if fragile Purdy is the guy. Are they really going to give him $55 million when some of the lighter hits can mess up his arm?
Even if he fumbled the Harbaugh situation, he replaced him with a coach who has made 2 Super Bowls.
Yes, they’re going to give Purdy big money. Yes, they should give Purdy big money. The grass isn’t always greener. It’s not like his health is as bad as Tua’s and he’s better than some of his peers who have gotten paid.
Technically he replace Harbaugh with Jim Tomsula and then replaced Tomsula with Chip Kelly, but I get your point. We don’t like those remember those two years either
Admittedly, I did forget those years were sandwiched between the two because the continuity and success has felt pretty consistent with that franchise. It feels like those years happened prior.
Ravaged by injuries up and down the roster. 2024 has been flushed for over a month now.
Every team has been hit with injuries bad. It is a very tiring excuse since that is all Collinsworth spouted about the last time they had a game. Last night Troy kept bringing it up. It’s called depth try developing some until guys get healthy. They still able to run the ball, no fault but their own for never getting an oline built up, is Greenlaw their only energy guy as they can’t generate juice for themselves again that is their fault as players.
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Every team has been hit by injuries, but not like SF has.
Lions have had 10 starters on defense. A couple of oline, Montgomery, Laporte missed a game and played hurt.
Bucs entire secondary has missed some games along with depth db, 3 lbs next to lvd, Tryon, Yaya, Kancey, and Vea all missed multiples, Wirfs missed like 2 and has been dealing with injuries, Goedeke missed like 4 with concussion, White missed a game, Bucky had back problem, Evans missed 3 games but hamstring all season, Godwin, McMillan missed games, Shepherd, Palmer, Attention all missed. Rookie C Barton missed a game.
I can go on through teams that have been through it so stop.
Yes Ancientone…please stop complaining.
None of those teams has lost nearly as much to injury as SF. Their number one receiver was lost after seven games. Their star running back played four games. His backup is hurt now too. Their first round receiver missed half the season. Their second best linebacker missed almost the whole season. Their best one has been hurt. Their best DT only played three games. Their star left tackle has been hurt. Their best safety missed ten games. Drake Jackson has missed the whole season. Even their quarterback missed a game. I haven’t even mentioned Bosa, because he always gets banged up, but it’s still not trivial. Detroit has been hit hard, but it’s not close to what SF has taken.
Even if you want to argue that every team has injuries to fall back on as an excuse, there is no arguing that the schedule makers did the 49ers dirty big time. San Francisco had a combined 21 days less rest than their opponents this season and for the oldest roster in the league, that is awfully hard to overcome. By contrast the Patriots didn’t face a single opponent that had a rest advantage.
If Shanahan was on the market he would have his pick of the open jobs in the league. He’s a top 3 coach in the NFL
Yeah, it’s honestly eye rolling to read on socials and in comments the fans that clamor that firing the coach will fix the bad roster constructions, injuries, etc. LOL. Not only that … who are they going to replace them with?
*crickets*
Makes me wonder how they deal with their own personal relationships haha.
Big shocker. Next article will inform us that liquid water is wet. If Kyle had been let go, he’d be unemployed for about three minutes. Lynch…not so sure.
The one thing every top notch organization has is stability. You’re not going to win every year, facts of life, but these guys have proven they can do it as good as anyone. It just wasn’t their year.
The Bills, the chiefs, the lions, the ravens, niners, the old pats, Steelers… they have the support of ownership through thick and thin. They don’t hit the panic button because the grass is usually not greener on the other side.
Wouldn’t have made any sense to part with either. The 49ers are an easy bet to return to the playoffs next season.
Yes, especially since they get to play a last place schedule in a very winnable division
Looking at the 1st place vs 4th place schedule … that’s easily a 3 win swing.
Deserve to stay for sure. As good as they have been though I often wonder how much even better the team could have been/could be with all that capital from the Lance trade especially since at the time it was widely reported they werent even sure which qb they liked better. They got some partial luck with Purdy working out to counteract that but overall they run a great team!
I feel if Purdy doesnt take a similar Geno Smith type deal, he could get tagged, while the 49ers find a way to bring Cousins in, to push him. Yes, Brock deserves to get paid but his elbow has to stay sound.
Cousins isn’t pushing anyone