Shanahan will have to prove he’s a genius
Kyle Shanahan is called a “genius” a lot.
It’s a well- earned reputation if you ask me — someone who uses that term without hesitation in relation to the 49ers’ head coach and offensive play- caller.
The way I see it, no one else in the NFL exploits defenses quite like Shanahan and his next-level scheme that creates mismatches and confusion all over the field.
But heading into Sunday’s Week 3 matchup with the Giants, Shanahan is going to have to go deep into his bag of tricks if San Francisco is going to win.
It’s time for the genius to really flex that brainpower.
Shanahan has won games with Nick Mullens as the team’s starting quarterback, but that was an era ago by NFL standards. Also, in 2018, the Niners weren’t playing for anything but a great draft pick by the time Mullens took over under center.
The Niners have, of course, participated in a Super Bowl since then, but in a strange way, they’re right back where they were at the end of the 2018 season now that Mullens is back at the helm of the offense.
The kid out of Southern Miss will likely go into Sunday’s game with bottom- of-the-depth-chart options at running
back and a ton of question marks at wide receiver. And while he helped George Kittle set an NFL record for receiving yards for a tight end in 2018, it’s fair to wonder if Kittle will be able to play Sunday — and if he should play given his MCL sprain and the questionable turf at MetLife Field.
Don’t get me wrong, there are positive qualities to this 49ers’ offense, but the limitations are obvious.
Just like with Mullens. The 49ers are favored to win Sunday’s game in New Jersey according to bookmakers across the country and across the world — Mullens is a more-than-capable backup. He’s also the kind of backup a team employs when they don’t want the starter to actually be challenged for playing time.
Both Garoppolo and Mullens are game managers, and Mullens might actually fulfill the true nature of that role better than Jimmy G, but he lacks the gall and moxie that has helped Garoppolo go 22- 6 as a starter in the regular season. Mullens, it should be noted, is 3-5. (That was a massive upgrade from C. J. Beathard, who is 1-9).
And while Garoppolo doesn’t seem interested in throwing outside the numbers or pushing it downfield too often, Mullens simply cannot. Not effectively, anyway. It’s easy to forget things like that when it’s been a few years.
Per the NFL, Mullens was, wisely, the secondleast aggressive quarterback in the NFL in 2018, one spot behind dink-anddunk legend Brock Osweiler, Mullens went weeks without completing a pass that traveled more than 20 yards in the air, and his longest completion through the air was 37 yards in 2018.
Mullens was able to win games and help the Niners put up average offensive numbers in large part because Shanahan found new and interesting ways to run the ball and get not- exactly- excellent wide receivers (and Kittle, a lot) open over the middle of the field.
Through the first two games of the season, Shanahan has not exactly wowed as a play-caller. The team’s Week 1 performance — a dud by Garoppolo — needs to be worn by Shanahan, too. It was a prevent offense: He was trying not to lose. That, of course, is no way to win a game.
Last Sunday against the Jets, Shanahan did the same thing when Mullens came into the game at halftime.
The hope is that Garoppolo’s absence is a oneweek ordeal — that he’ll be back for the Week 4 game against the Eagles at Levi’s Stadium — but the difference between being 1-2 and 2-1 on the season is stark.
So what can Shanahan draw up to create useful offense out of wide receivers that can’t separate, tight ends that are on snap counts, and a run game that’s down its top two options in the backfield?
Whatever it is, it’ll need to be special. Mullens can win the 49ers a game, but only if Shanahan puts him in a position to do so.
And if Shanahan calls a game as to not lose, well, with this roster — crazy as it might sound — it’s a pretty surefire way to lose.
Yes, even to the Giants.