San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke with the media following Sunday's 39-10 loss to the Los Angeles Rams at Levi's Stadium.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Opening comments
"Injuries that I've got right now: [DB Adrian] Colbert left with an ankle sprain. [LB Reuben] Foster, shoulder sprain. [S Jaquiski] Tart had a stinger, would have come back in but it was over by then. And, [RB Matt] Breida rolled his ankle."
We've talked about the turnovers for several weeks now, is it just becoming something where you guys are pressing or why is this continuing to happen?
"Something I've got to find out. It's inexcusable. It's impossible to win in this league when you turn the ball over like we are and you when don't get any. So, having four today - four to zero, I think it's 24 points off turnovers and I think they got nine points off the blocked punt with the safety and (the punt return to the 49ers 13-yard line which they converted into a touchdown). In order for us to be able to play in a football game, we have to protect the ball and get the ball."
QB C.J. Beathard has committed eight of those turnovers in the past three weeks. Are you still okay with him or have you considered starting somebody else at quarterback?
"It's not just C.J., it's everyone. The quarterback - when the ball leaves his hands - he's going to get credit for that turnover, but by no means is it 100% on C.J. Of course, he's got to do better. I've got to do better and we've got to do a lot better around him."
Following up on that, what is stopping you from seeing what QB Nick Mullens has?
"Because C.J. is the best quarterback we have in our building."
Why were you guys able to handle the pressure so much better, it seemed, on Monday Night as opposed to today?
"You mean pressure as in them (pass) rushing?"
Yes.
"We were in a much better rhythm on Monday night. We had the run and the pass game going. We were moving the chains. Early in this, as soon as we started getting something going early, we had a false start, I think, on our first drive that sent us into second and 11. We had a tipped pass, ended up being a fumble the next play. We had a fumbled snap. We never got in a rhythm today. I feel like we did on the last drive of the second quarter, besides that, players, coaches, all of us, we struggled and never found our rhythm."
How much do you attribute to DT Aaron Donald just being a really good football player?
"He's always an issue when he's on the field for everybody. Everyone knows how good of a player he is, but it was a lot more than just that."
The wide receivers didn't seem very involved at all today. From your vantage point on the sidelines, was that them not getting separation or C.J. just not seeing them when they did get open?
"No, it wasn't that case. They didn't play much man coverage today, especially the way it went in the first half. They were real soft in their coverages and zones, and tried to take away the big play and make us work our way the field and we obviously struggled to do that."
Generally, you've been competitive this year. This wasn't the case. Is a loss like this somewhat embarrassing?
"It's always embarrassing when you lose like that. We've got pride and we're also confident in what we do. We're not proud of our record right now. We're definitely not proud of today. When we played better, we still feel the same way. We're not into any moral victories here. We're as far away from one as we could have today. We have to fix the turnovers. Once we fix the turnovers, then we have a chance to start playing football."
How do you fix the turnovers? What's your approach going to be to fix this?
"If it was just one thing, you could say one thing. If it was just one guy, you'd say one guy. But, it's an accumulation of a number of things. We had one ball stripped. I thought Donald made a pretty good play on that. I know we had the fumble on the first drive. We threw one over the middle that I thought we hesitated on. The DB ran through the ball and got it. There's a bunch of different situations for the turnovers. We need to get better. The better you get, the less you turn it over. The more you can be balanced, the less you have to pass, but also we're fumbling it too. So, we need to protect it. We talk about the ball and work on going after the ball as much as you possibly can. You don't stop. You don't ignore it. You keep preaching those same things. You keep drilling those same things and you expect it to get better the more you work at it. If it doesn't, you've got to find people who do take care of it."
It was a short week after a pretty emotionally crushing loss. Do you think any of that, at least emotionally, carried over into this game?
"I don't know. Those are definitely the things people will say when something like that happens. I don't think emotions had to do with our turnovers. When you turn the ball over like that, you can expect those results."
If you sense they were flat at all, intensity or--?
"Just watching on the sidelines, I loved the energy our defense came out with. I thought they came out and started the game very well. I thought we were moving the ball pretty well on our first drive. I thought we had a little bit of a set back with that false start that we had, and then the next play we fumbled. I didn't think we came out flat. I didn't feel like we were flat, but it's hard to defend much when you have the results like that."
You said Breida rolled that ankle again. This is, what, the third week in a row he's been nursing his ankle? At what point, do you tell him and have him sit out for a week to get that right? Because it seems like he's been advocating for himself to play.
"That's something we'll have to look into hard. It's based off how he looks in practice. Breida's done a very good job recovering throughout the week. He's had very good practices making all the cuts and everything on Fridays and Saturdays. Obviously, that first play today, it went. When that happens on the first play, we want to see the film and see what happened. He was begging to come back in the game the second half and felt like he was good enough too, but getting at what you're talking about, that's why we made that decision to keep him down. Hopefully he'll heal up more this week. We'll have to reassess it again."
Along those lines, it seems like RB Raheem Mostert continues to bring a spark when he's in the game. Is he earning himself more and more carries?
"Yes. He earned it in practice last week and had a good game versus Green Bay. He wasn't perfect by any means today, but he had a few good plays and he's running hard for us. The better he does, the more opportunities he'll get."
Did CB Richard Sherman suffer his injury on Thursday?
"Yes, it was Thursday."
Do you have any idea on the prognosis?
"No, I don't. I just know it was hurting him Thursday, so we had to take him out and he didn't go on Friday. We tried to look into it Saturday and it was still bothering him, so we had to shut him down. We'll see tomorrow how he feels."