Oh, Hey There! Is Kyle Shanahan ‘back’ as a play caller?

For the majority of this season, the 49ers’ offense has been stuck in the mud. Whether it was stupid penalties, poor quarterback play, or dropped passes, Kyle Shanahan’s bunch just couldn’t get out of their own way. On Sunday, however, that all changed. On today’s, Oh, Hey There podcast, Javier Vega and Leo Luna wondered if Kyle Shanahan is out of his admitted season-long slump.

“This biggest takeaway of all from this game was that Kyle Shanahan was sequencing his plays better,” Vega said, “Everyone asked all week if Kyle was in a rut...but this week seemed very much like hey, Kyle Shanahan is in his bag, he’s sequencing his calls, and he’s not trying to force a square peg in a round hole...The defense for the Bears was off balance pretty much all second half. I think Kyle might be back.”

The statistics certainly paint that picture. 467 total yards, 322 passing yards, 145 rushing yards, and the Niners averaged 8.6 yards per play on Sunday. That was the 2019-esque performance that this entire organization has seemingly been trying to get back to for two years.

Now, we all recognize the usual caveats about the opponent being the Bears and yada, yada, yada. Regardless, for at least one week, the 49ers were unstoppable in portions of this game. When you have eight (!) plays of 20 or more yards and seven straight plays that resulted in a first down or a touchdown, you deserve all the credit you get. Good teams do that to bad teams, and it was great to see the 49ers play like a good team again.

What do you think - is Kyle Shanahan back into a rhythm as the 49ers play-caller? Answer our poll question below and leave us a comment with your thoughts.

Other topics in today’s episode

• Why Elijah Mitchell is the real deal at running back
• Talanoa Hufaga flashed as a starting safety
• Reaction to the trade for Charles Omenihu