SANTA CLARA – With the 49ers eliminated from the playoffs after an injury-wrecked 2024 season, many San Francisco fans have already turned their attention to the offseason.
Among the thousands congregating in the parking lot at Levi’s Stadium on Monday before the team’s game against Detroit were a multitude of differing ideas on how the 49ers should proceed after a lost season.
Opinions about whether coach Kyle Shanahan’s is the right person to lead the team next season were split prior to the rematch of last season’s NFC championship game.
Shanahan’s teams have been boom or bust.
The 49ers have made the conference title game four times and reached the Super Bowl twice under Shanahan.
They also have missed the playoffs four times.
“Yeah, he’s on the hot seat going forward after this year,” said Frank Castaneda of Fresno.
Others among the fanbase had far more faith in the eighth-year coach.
“I’m giving him another year, absolutely,” Redwood City native Kirk Anderson said. “He’s taken us tot two Super Bowls and what, four NFC championship games? Who else in the league can say that?”
49ers fans seemed far more united about the team’s future under Brock Purdy. With the third-year quarterback eligible for an extension, most would be happy to see San Francisco shell out $60 million a season for the former last pick in the draft out of Iowa.
“You’ve got to remember, this is only his second full year playing the game and he’s doing it with a mediocre at best offensive line,” said 37-year-old fan Morris Jackson while wearing a Purdy jersey. “He might not have the arm of Josh Allen or the legs of Lamar Jackson, but his decision making ability is by far the best.”
Others were slightly less bullish on the passer who has gone 23-12 in 35 career starts. But they admitted that Purdy was better than any quarterback on the open market or acquirable through the draft.
“I think it would be deserved, and I think that we need to do that, given the fact that we don’t legitimately have any other options at this point in time.,” Anderson said.
With an aging and expensive roster, the team might need to make major moves to open up cap space for such a deal.
Castaneda and Jackson both called for the team to get younger, and for general manager John Lynch to focus on rebuilding the offensive line after an injury-riddled season this fall.
Ellen Bridgeman, a season ticket-holder since the team played at Candlestick Park, hopes that the 49ers can find a way to keep core pieces such as Deebo Samuel, Trent Williams and Dre Greenlaw around for one more run.
“We absolutely need to run with the team that Shanahan has formed,” Bridgeman said. “You keep the players that we have, and as long as everybody is healthy and willing to play, we are going to the Super Bowl.”
A few hundred feet away, San Jose native Stephen Armbruster sang a very different tune.
“I just think that Deebo has run his course,“ Armbruster said. ”We have to cut some salaries.”
Though 49ers fans comfortably outnumbered the visiting Lion supporters, there was still a noticeable amount of silver and Honolulu blue milling around the Levi’s Stadium parking lot.
After watching his favorite team beat Detroit 34-31 to advance to the franchise’s eighth Super Bowl last January, Anderson held a bit of a soft spot for a franchise that had suffered for so long.
If his 49ers weren’t going to win the Super Bowl, he had no problem with pulling for the Lions.
“I would be thrilled if they win it,” Anderson said. “To be honest with you, I want anybody other than Kansas City.”
