On Thursday, San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks took responsibility for a critical zero blitz call just before halftime against the Minnesota Vikings.
"I have to do a better job and put the guys in a better position," Wilks told reporters during his weekly press conference. "We have good players. I know that, and can't really press the issue. And with that, moving forward, it's my responsibility to do that. So I wish I could take it back, but again, I got to do better."
His head coach, Kyle Shanahan, also shouldered some of the blame, acknowledging that ultimate in-game decision-making rests with him.
"I heard that [play call], and I should have called a timeout and changed it, but I didn't. So, that's what happens," Shanahan said during his weekly interview with Bay Area radio station KNBR.
The play call drew significant scrutiny, with some fans attributing Monday night's loss to Wilks' decision-making.
On Friday morning, during his own weekly interview on KNBR's "Murph and Mac" show, general manager John Lynch voiced his support for Wilks, reaffirming that the organization stands firmly behind their defensive coach.
When asked if there exist potential trust issues with Wilks, Lynch responded, "Absolutely not."
The general manager believes Shanahan remains confident in the defensive coordinator despite being critical of the costly decision during Monday night's game.
"Now, if you could have been inside our room, internally, [Shanahan] would tell you, and all our team would tell you, how much belief he has in Steve, and that was communicated as well," Lynch said. "But both things can be true. You can have a ton of belief and not like a particular call."
Wilks took over from DeMeco Ryans, who departed to become the head coach of the Houston Texans. Wilks inherited Ryans' defense, which hasn't displayed the same level of dominance as the top-ranked unit from last season.
"We're squarely behind Steve Wilks," Lynch added. "We made a great hire at the time. We believe that even more strongly now, and we'll work through this. These things happen. We just got to play better, and we got to play better with our core fundamentals.
"... Don't try to try to create all these reasons as to what's going on. It always goes back to the fundamentals and us playing like we can play. And when we do know, we'll go back to being the dominant defense that we've been, and that needs to happen here soon."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.
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