SANTA CLARA: According to 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan’s hint on Tuesday, defensive coordinator Steve Wilks is likely to return for his second season in charge.
“I haven’t talked to anybody yet, so, yeah, I expect all our coaches to be back,” Shanahan said in response to a direct question about whether Wilks will continue to oversee the 49ers’ defense.
Under Wilks, whom Shanahan hired in the offseason, the 49ers’ defense had a mixed season. Following Wilks’ successful tenure as the team’s interim head coach to close the 2022 NFL season, Wilks became available after the Carolina Panthers hired Frank Reich, who has since been fired, as head coach.
Following the 49ers’ NFC playoff victory and bye week, Wilks conducted interviews to become head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Chargers. Jim Harbaugh and Raheem Morris, respectively, were given those positions.
With a scoring defense rating of just 17.5 points per game, the 49ers were third in the NFL in scoring defense. The 49ers allowed 303.9 total yards per game, which ranked eighth-best. Having more interceptions (22) than touchdown passes allowed (20), they were the only team in the NFL.
Regarding the 49ers defense, Shanahan stated, “I thought they were one of the reasons we got this far.” “Like our entire team, they performed admirably in this game as well as in a number of other games. Although the team performed admirably this season, we lost the final game.
The 49ers’ defense limited the Kansas City offense led by Patrick Mahomes to just 19 points in regulation, and the Chiefs emerged victorious in Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday in Las Vegas, 25–22 in overtime.
The 49ers gave up just one touchdown in regulation, which happened one play after Kansas City recovered from a botched punt and scored on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to Marcquez Valdes-Scantling.
Shanahan appeared to imply that he planned to keep Wilks on the coaching staff for at least one more season, even though he refrained from saying that Wilks would stay on the team.
Shanahan stated, “We’ll talk about that a lot as this week goes on.” “In the offseason, we’ll have a lot of conversations about our goals for the defense, offense, and special teams on the team.” That’s a ton of talks, a ton of footage, a ton of personnel and salary-cap issues we have to talk about… draft. To be honest, I haven’t even watched the [Super Bowl] game yet.
