In April, Kyle Shanahan went before the media and apologized after he, “totally bombed” his response to a question about whether Jimmy Garoppolo would be on the roster later this year. On today’s Niners Nation Gold Standard Podcast, I point out that he said something yesterday that may put him in a similar position come July.
In response to a question about whether he has considered changing training camp in light of all the injuries, Kyle said (in part), “To sit and say we’re going to do training camp differently because someone got hurt getting out of a chair, because someone got hurt on air, and a person hurt his knee playing football would be pretty irresponsible of me and extremely reactionary.”
Even before that comment, the ire of the fan base had already begun to turn towards the head coach. “It can’t just be luck at this point,” people said. “Doing the same thing and expecting different results is the definition of insanity!” Clearly, the scores of injuries the team has sustained have eroded the patience of the fan base.
Criticism towards Shanahan grew so much on Twitter that our own Akash Anavarathan felt compelled to put out a tweet pointing out that San Francisco’s injury issues started long before the young Shanahan ever arrived in San Francisco.
The simple fact is, none of that will help if the injuries continue during training camp. Even if guys get hurt in odd ways, like Jeff Wilson and the chair, the worm has already turned. With each additional injury, Kyle Shanahan will have to eat more and more blame pie. At this point, people are looking for something or someone concrete that they can blame, and they’re going to go back to that quote and find the perfect target.
(That, and the fact that Grant Cohn will 100% write an article about Shanahan’s stubborn refusal to adapt that highlights the comment)
After three losing seasons in four years, many fans would say the cruel whims of circumstance are no longer an excuse for Kyle Shanahan’s less-than-stellar regular-season record. They want to see results that live up to the lofty praise often heaped upon the man in the trucker hat by many NFL analysts (and Niners Nation writers).
I lay out the case further in the episode, so you should definitely check it out if you disagree with me. Or if you agree, for that matter. You can find it at the top and bottom of this page, or anywhere podcasts live and breathe.