I hear the conversations:
Fire Kyle.
Trade or low-ball Brock.
It’s all ridiculous.
But conversations like that are also why the NFL is the premier entertainment product in America and soon, if the league gets its way, the world.
Nothing is permanent in the NFL. This time last year, the 49ers were the toast of the NFL with an 11-3 record en route to a fourth NFC title game appearance in five years and a Super Bowl berth.
Now, the quarterback and head coach who authored that 2023 season are apparently scrubs.
And maybe they are. Things change fast in this league, and, unlike in the NBA or Major League Baseball, teams can change just as fast.
Yes, in the NFL every game matters — even Sunday’s 49ers-Dolphins game between two teams with slim to minuscule playoff chances.
That’s because every player, every week, is playing for their job.
So, while I’m not sure if the so-called Faithful are keen to see Shanahan and Purdy succeed or fail in the final three games of the campaign, I do know that I want to see these three things as we round out a cursed season:
1. Make Ricky Pearsall the X receiver
The box score tells one story, and it’s anything but flattering for the 49ers’ latest first-round pick: two catches in the last five games. That’s not per game, but total.
The film tells another story: Pearsall is getting open. Not just on occasion, but all the time.
Against the Rams last Thursday, Pearsall ran 23 routes. On 18 of them, I clocked him as open. He was wide open on more than a handful of those, with no defender within five yards of him.
Yet Pearsall was only targeted four times.
Meanwhile, the Niners are still force-feeding the ball to Deebo Samuel and Jauan Jennings, neither of which can separate from the press man-to-man defense that every competent team—including the Rams last week—is using against San Francisco.
Pearsall can.
So here’s what I’d like to see: Move Pearsall to the X receiver spot, making him the primary read in the offense on most plays. Move Samuel into an ancillary role (effectively the team’s third receiver), and have Jennings move to the Z, where he will be asked to do more underneath routes and receive a much-needed cushion by being behind the line of scrimmage.
Shanahan knows this is the way — we saw him move Pearsall into that role late in the game against the Rams, and it opened up the offense in a positive way. (Now, if only Purdy had thrown to Pearsall instead of Jennings on the game-sealing interception.)
I’ll plant my flag right now. Mark this down for posterity: Pearsall is the 49ers’ best receiver. Jennings is a strong player who makes the most of what he has, and Samuel has the pedigree, but neither of them is as consistently open as Pearsall, and neither carries the same threat as the rookie with the ball in their hands.
Shanahan had no problem finding ways to feed Samuel the ball against the Rams. Do the same for Pearsall against the Dolphins on Sunday and beyond.
2, Give Issac Guerendo the full CMC treatment
I’ll admit it might be tough to do this week, with Guerendo nursing a hamstring injury that kept him out of Wednesday’s practice.
But the rookie running back is the Niners’ unquestioned No. 1 these days, and he has the physical skillset to be the closest thing on this roster to the team’s true No. 1, Christian McCaffrey.
So why is Shanahan treating Guerendo like one-dimensional options Patrick Taylor or Eli Mitchell?
Guerendo was a college wide receiver. He’s an exceptional route-runner for a running back, with exceptional break-off ability.
Yet Shanahan only “bumped” him out three times against the Rams and only put him at a wide receiver spot four times.
When McCaffrey was in the backfield, the Niners were begging teams to play man-to-man defense against them — best of luck with your linebacker or safety against CMC.
Guerendo isn’t McCaffrey, but he should be viewed as a similar threat, particularly against opposing linebackers. But for that to be the case, Shanahan has to use him like the versatile weapon he is and constantly be moving him around formations.
Instead, Shanahan seems more keen to do that with Kyle Juszczyk. Defenses aren’t scared.
The Niners have nothing to lose and everything to gain by using Guerendo like the all-around back he is.
I’d like to see it for the rest of the season.
3. One fake punt
My favorite Shanahan stat is that he has never faked a punt.
Wait, did I say favorite?
I meant “most-aggravating.”
Sure, Shanahan claims he called for a fake punt once, only for the team to audible out of the look, but that doesn’t count now, does it?
So here’s my suggestion to Shanahan: throw caution to the wind for the first time in your coaching life, and do something brash and bold. Fake a punt.
Just one.
I’ll also accept going for it when the book says no, or going for 2 after the first touchdown of the game, or doing an onside kick, just for kicks.
I need to see Shanahan do something unnecessary in the final three weeks. It’s necessary to me.
I know it’s “stupid” to fake a punt, but what’s the downside? Heaven forbid the Niners earn a higher draft pick.
Now, I’m not suggesting that Shanahan go full Dan Campbell, but embracing just a bit of chaos would serve him and the 49ers moving forward—the world isn’t scripted, and the NFL certainly isn’t. Success is predicated on reading, reacting, and sometimes doing something kinda dumb.
It’s a dumb sport — the ball is oblong, after all.
Nothing would say, “I’m trying out something new,” than having Pat O’Donnell throw a pass in the next three weeks. He’s 1-for-1 for 38 yards and a touchdown in his career, and all came off a 2017 fake punt toss. Let’s see if he still has it.
