In his first year as defensive coordinator with the 49ers, Steve Wilks’s reward for helping the team get to the Super Bowl and to force overtime by holding the Chiefs to 19 points was to get fired.
It felt weird. It seemed unfair. The issues with Wilks and a defensive system different from his usual system weren’t a surprise to Shanahan. It was known when Wilks was hired to replace DeMeco Ryans a year ago.
So why did Wilks get fired? While Myle Simmons and I were discussing it on Thursday’s PFT Live, something dawned on me.
Shanahan, who earned his head-coaching opportunity by being an expert offensive coordinator, runs the San Francisco offense to perfection. Like many offensive coordinators turned head coaches, Shanahan lets his defensive coordinator run the defense.
The decision to hire a non-Seattle/Cover Three defensive coordinator to run the Seattle/Cover Three defense surely created extra stress and strain for Shanahan. He had to worry about, and focus on, the defense more than he had in the past. And he quite possibly decided to move on from Wilks because he just didn’t want to do that again.
If there’s any truth to that, Shanahan will hire a Seattle/Cover Three expert. That will allow him to let the coordinator handle the defense, while Shanahan spends most if not all of his time focused on getting the most out of the offense.
The timing still stinks for Wilks. And there’s one question that has yet to be answered, and might never be. If the 49ers had won Super Bowl LVIII, would Wilks still have been fired?