This past weekend's victory over the Los Angeles Rams was nice, but San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan doesn't want his team to lose perspective. The season-defining win could have very easily been a demoralizing defeat.
The 49ers sit at 5-0 and atop the NFC West standings. The team's success has taken many by surprise. However, as quickly as the praises have come, they could disappear even faster if the squad lets its guard down.
Richard Sherman said on Thursday that every matchup is treated like a championship game. No opponent is being overlooked, not even the 1-5 Washington Redskins.
"You sit there, and you focus on one game at a time," Sherman told reporters. "You make that a championship game that week. The next thing you know, you've played 19 championship games. And then you look up, and the season's over, and they have confetti coming down."
Shanahan doesn't want his players becoming too complacent in their own success. He took an opportunity this week to show his players film of everything they did wrong in Sunday's 20-7 victory over the Rams, and remind them that had two or three plays gone the other way, it could have felt like a long flight back to the Bay Area.
Shanahan, who joined KNBR on Friday morning, reminded his players that Washington is still an NFL team, and any team is capable of shocking them. The coach explained why Washington shouldn't be overlooked.
"You definitely don't want [the players] overly confident," Shanahan said on the "Murph and Mac" show. "It's not tough when you show them the film. I know Washington just won their first game but it's not hard when you show the offense some of the players they have on the D-line, their safety, their corners. They are capable of being one of the better defenses in the league.
"Offensively, they've been banged up. They have a quarterback who took Minnesota one play away from going to the Super Bowl. They have a Hall of Fame running back. They have one of the best guards in the league.
"They definitely have the tools to get after you. You've got to show the guys that, and they quickly can see it. It usually gets them right back, locked in.
"It's very different in the NFL to where there is no bad team. People can not play well, but there's no team that doesn't have good players, and they can put it together at any time.
"The No. 1 team can always lose to the 32nd team. We are not the No. 1 team, yet. We're five games into it. It's just starting, so we're still trying to work through this. But it's not hard when you have the tape to show the guys. You can see the talent. You've just got to make sure you show it to them."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Shanahan below.
