San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan's post-game message to his players was clear. He was disappointed. Sunday's 31-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals in front of a Levi's Stadium crowd that hasn't seen their team win a home game since October 18, 2020, was embarrassing.
Adding to the embarrassment was that the Cardinals trounced the home-team 49ers without several stars, including quarterback Kyler Murray and wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. Instead, it was Colt McCoy carving up San Francisco's defense, completing 84.6 percent of his passes for 249 yards and a touchdown.
What was Shanahan's post-game message to his players in the locker room?
"Just how disappointed I was," Shanahan said. "Obviously, we've got to play a lot better. I talked to the defense a lot about some of the things that you saw out there. Offensively, I thought we had our opportunities. We just had to make those plays, like we did last week. And I thought it was there for us, especially in the first half, and we didn't get it done. It got us in the hole, and we weren't able to overcome it."
Shanahan felt the 49ers had a good week of practice, even better than the previous week's, leading to a win over the Chicago Bears. However, he has no idea why his defense looked so undisciplined just a week later against the Cardinals.
"Got to find out," Shanahan said. "It was extremely disappointing. I didn't think we tackled very well. I didn't think we had 11 guys swarming to the ball enough. I think we made it pretty easy on those guys."
Shanahan doesn't blame his defensive coordinator, though. The coach was asked if DeMeco Ryans still has his full support.
"Yes, of course," Shanahan responded.
The 49ers look to be headed toward their fourth losing season in five seasons under Shanahan. The team's 2019 Super Bowl campaign is starting to look like an anomaly. So why should fans be optimistic that this regime has the franchise headed in the right direction?
"To make a big statement like that, and the whole direction of the franchise after that game, to me, that's unnecessary," Shanahan answered. "We didn't play a very good game today. We've got to play a lot better. I know our fans are disappointed. I'm disappointed too, but we've got to make sure we do better next week."
Things don't get easier for the 49ers. Next week, they will host the Los Angeles Rams at Levi's Stadium.
