If you spend a lot of time on social media, you probably noticed a very vocal segment of The Faithful calling for the San Francisco 49ers to fire head coach Kyle Shanahan. If not that, they believe Shanahan should at least be on the hot seat, and the outcome of this season to determine his fate.
Shanahan was given a pass after last season's six-win campaign. His team was coming off a Super Bowl appearance, after all, and had just endured one of the most injury-plagued seasons in recent NFL history.
Shanahan is also 31-38 as a head coach, including 2019's 13-3 season. If you throw that out the window, the coach has never guided a team to more than six wins. He could do so this season. However, after winning their first two games, the 49ers have stumbled through three consecutive losses and fallen to 2-3.
Rich Eisen was recently asked if Shanahan should be on the hot seat after what could turn out to be another disappointing season.
"No," he quickly responded. "Did I stutter?"
The Rich Eisen Show host recently explained why the 49ers would be fools to part ways with their 41-year-old head coach.
"Because he's one of the sharpest minds in football, and he would be on the street for three minutes," Eisen said.
For those interested, Al Sacco and Jason Aponte recently went around the league and looked at whether Shanahan would be considered an upgrade over each team's current head coach. You can listen to that conversation on the latest No Huddle Podcast below. That portion of the conversation starts at about the 36-minute mark.
Eisen acknowledges that there are issues in San Francisco. Brandon Aiyuk's situation is one example. The second-year receiver has been targeted just 15 times this season after an impressive showing as a rookie.
"Whatever doghouse he's in, get him out of the doghouse yourself because you need him," Eisen said.
Then you have the quarterback situation. The team's season has been derailed by Jimmy Garoppolo's injury issues before, so it should not have been surprising that the veteran quarterback got injured again early in the season. Was it a mistake to not better prepare their rookie quarterback, Trey Lance, the No. 3 overall draft pick?
Eisen does believe that Lance benefits from working with Shanahan, though.
"What coach would you hire to be better [with] Lance than him? I mean, he's perfect," Eisen said. "... He's perfect for the situation. He's got a long-term contract, and this is a team that I think one-and-doned two straight head coaches (Jim Tomsula, Chip Kelly). So they had three different coaches in three years (four in four years if you count Jim Harbaugh)."
What about that dismal record? The 49ers have had just one winning season in four years and sit below .500 right now.
"Look what Bill Walsh was in the first few years of his deal," Eisen offers as a rebuttal. "... They would be crazy -- crazy. Who would be better to hook up with Trey Lance, that's out there right now, than Kyle Shanahan? ... Should he be on the hot seat? The answer is most emphatically no. Zero [hot seat]. The seat should have no temperature on it."
