Kawakami: The 49ers' scapegoat? Firing Steve Wilkes is a bad thing, but the mistake was the inappropriate hiring of DC

A year ago, Kyle Shanahan gave Steve Wilkes a great opportunity, which was mostly unfair to him at the same time. both of them. Built on each other.

It was a remarkable feat because it was difficult enough that whoever succeeded would be heralded as a great defensive mind and perhaps take over the head coaching job at the next opportune moment. It was difficult because it was full of great players, great resources, great responsibility and the highest expectations.

Which is why it's reasonable to say that Shanahan's decision to fire Wilkes as the 49ers' defensive coordinator on Wednesday was two partially contradictory things at the same time — a very critical moment of very public scapegoating for a Super Bowl loss and also the logical conclusion of a failed year-long experiment.

It could have worked, had Wilks developed more chemistry with Fred Warner, Nick Bosa and the rest of the defense in the short time he had, but he didn't. Wilkes, who came in as a defensive secondary coach, was a little more conservative and more focused on the defensive backfield than they were accustomed to. And it became clearer each week that the 49ers' best defensive players didn't fully believe in their ability in DC.

It could have worked if Shanahan had been willing to adjust more, but he wasn't. It could have worked if the 49ers' defense had been more focused and less disoriented during the playoffs. But those distracting moments continued to pile up during the Green Bay-Detroit games and then all the way until the final minutes against the Chiefs, when at one point Shanahan called timeout to get the 49ers out on a defensive call he hated and then another when linebacker Orrin Burks swung the ball around the formation, looked Anxiously headed toward the sideline, before hitting a critical shot from third trying to figure out where he was supposed to line up. Patrick Mahomes quickly completed the pass for a first down on that play, of course.

And then, in the postgame session, Bosa flatly said the defense wasn't prepared well enough to defend Mahomes running the ball on two tough plays. As soon as Bosa said this, it was clear that Wilkes' situation was in grave danger. Three days later, he was out of work.

But I don't know if anyone outside the mind of the 49ers' defensive hive can avoid firing at this point. I know Wilkes, who wasn't part of the 49ers' culture when he was hired and could never find a way to fit into it, is now out of a job. It's a bad look to fire someone with such a good reputation in the days following a Super Bowl flop. But if you believe Shanahan's explanation on Wednesday, and I do, it's less a scapegoat than an admission that Shanahan and John Lynch made a mistake when they hired Wilkes in the first place.

It wasn't his fault as much as it was theirs.

The 49ers simply have a very specific way of running their defense, which was started by Robert Saleh in his three years in D.C. before moving to the top job with the Jets and promoted by Demeco Ryans, who was previously the linebackers coach under Saleh, in his two D.C. stints years before Getting his top job in Houston.

The 49ers needed more of that. It was up to them to realize that Wilkes wouldn't give it to them, and they realized that too late. But there's context: The 49ers didn't have a strong internal candidate to replace Ryans last year and couldn't land Vic Fangio, who wound up with the Dolphins (and is now with the Eagles).

Shanahan and Lynch logically wanted to keep the same Seahawks-style Cover 3 scheme that fits their roster so well, but they also wanted a reliable character. Wilkes had the authority, but no experience in Seattle's system. So the 49ers' brass could only hope he would stick to the scheme. But that never happened. Wilkes has always been the outsider looking in.

“Yes, that was the hardest part,” Shanahan said in a hastily called conference call on Wednesday. “I knew that was the challenge. It was tough. But it's very tough to lose DeMeco. It was tough to lose Saleh (two years) before that. But we're committed to not only this system but the players that were in our system, our D-line, our linebackers.” We have. I played in it for a long time. It was my goal not to have to change them all. And to bring in Steve, who was unbelievable in how dedicated he was and trying to do it.

“But it ended up not being quite the right fit. It was painful for me to do this, but it's exactly what I had to do.”

So what happens now? Shanahan said he will look at internal and external candidates, and it's always difficult to know which coaches from other teams are interested or available this late in the recruiting cycle. But I think there are a few things we can take away from this whole experience:

• All of the 49ers' top defenders are in their front seven. Their DC should come with a background either on the defensive line or in the linebacker unit. Wilkes coached the midfielders and defensemen, but he never showed up part who are they.

“I don't think it's just because of his background in databases,” Shanahan said. “I think it has to do with the way we play linebackers and things like that. The way Fred and Dre (Greenlaw) have done it here over the years and the way we've coached. I mean there's not one way to do things. But you want to tie things together. And Steve was working I always wanted to do that, there's no doubt about that. But because of his background and how we ended up, it was harder than it should have been. And I felt like it would get better if we went in a different direction.”

• Shanahan said he just wants the best DC possible and wouldn't preclude the search for someone outside of the Seahawks' defensive system, but the next DC will likely come from that coaching tree or at least be closer to it than Wilks was.

• I don't think highly regarded defensive line coach Chris Kocurek would be a viable candidate. He's very valuable (and well compensated) where he is and has never seemed like a guy desperate to be DC.

Defensive backs coach Daniel Bullocks is an up-and-comer, but his high school background could be a handicap this time around.

Defensive passing game specialist Nick Sorensen is an interesting name, but his background before joining the 49ers in 2022 is primarily on special teams.

• Although I think jumping up and down on the sideline is more of a TV drill than an actual drill, the 49ers love the energy from their center position. Presented by Saleh and Rayyan. Wilkes didn't do that. (By the way, Shanahan doesn't do that either. But offensive coaches rarely get attention on the sideline. They have to call or think about the next play.) I think Shanahan will be looking for a guy with positive vibes with this hire.

The 49ers had to ask Wilkes to come down from the booth and personally call his players on the sidelines midway through the season, and that was a giant red flag, even after his success.

• It doesn't seem likely that the 49ers will go after one of the very popular former coaches with defensive backgrounds — Mike Vrabel, Brandon Staley, Ron Rivera or even Bill Belichick or Pete Carroll. This would create more of an outside dynamic, since these guys have done it their own way for a long time and, in the case of Belichick and Carroll, have only been head coaches for decades.

Saleh wasn't a big name when he took over the 49ers' defense, but he was a perfect fit alongside Shanahan and has known Shanahan for years. Ryans was a fairly inexperienced coach when he moved in to replace Saleh, but he was fully part of the 49ers' culture and was just a natural leader and play-caller. I don't know if the perfect candidate exists or not, but I don't think it has to be a big name. It has to be someone who fits into the culture and feels like an insider almost immediately.

(Wilkes December photo: Robin Alam/ISI Photos/Getty Images)