The duo behind the 49ers’ two Super Bowl appearances over the past six years — coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch — will return next season after the team’s losing record in 2024, according to owner Jed York.
“They’re not going anywhere,” York told the San Francisco Standard on Monday afternoon.
The 49ers are 6-10 and eliminated from playoff contention, just one year after appearing in the Super Bowl and losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime.
In his conference call with reporters on Tuesday morning, Shanahan was asked if York’s comments make him feel more confident about his future with the team.
“Not really,” Shanahan said. “I’ve got a good relationship with Jed and we speak almost every day. Hearing stuff in the media doesn’t really change stuff for me, it’s more what I have between him and myself.”
That relationship has always been consistent?
“Definitely,” Shanahan added. “Jed is very easy to talk to. We’ve known each other for nine years and feel very fortunate for how he is through the good and the bad and the communication never really changes regardless of what’s going on.”
On Monday, ESPN reported that the 49ers were not interested in trading Shanahan, who has led the team to four NFC championship game appearances and two Super Bowl berths.
A few hours after York’s statement and mere minutes after the 49ers lost to the Detroit Lions 40-34 on Monday night, Shanahan was already looking to the future and his ninth season in charge.
“It could’ve gone worse going through this today, and I expect us to learn a lot from going through this stuff and I expect for this to make us a better team next year,” Shanahan said. “When this season is over, I can’t wait to get started figuring out how to do that.”
During an interview with KNBR on Friday, Lynch said that the front office is already beginning to set its sights on next season.
“We have been looking at the root causes. We’ll fix it,” Lynch said. “We’ve got a lot of great players and a lot of great people that we want to be a part of the solution moving forward, and we’ll go find the other parts of our team to get us back to where we belong. And that’s competing for championships, and I’m confident in our plan to do that.”
Shanahan will begin 2025 as the team’s longest-tenured coach since Bill Walsh, who won three Super Bowls in 10 seasons as the 49ers’ coach.
“I don’t want to be any place in the world more than here,” Shanahan said after the 49ers defeated the Bears on Dec. 8. “My family feels just as strong if not a lot stronger. I hope you guys are going to have to kick me out of here.”
Bay Area News Group’s Jerry McDonald contributed to this report.
