The San Francisco 49ers weren't overly concerned about the scoreboard results from Sunday's Week 18 matchup against the Los Angeles Rams. Head coach Kyle Shanahan would have loved to win his 10th straight regular-season contest against Sean McVay, but the primary goal was concluding the game as healthy as possible.
The only significant injuries that Shanahan mentioned after the game were to defensive end Clelin Ferrell and safety Tayler Hawkins. While the coach suggested that Ferrell's injury might potentially lead to him missing the team's playoff game in two weeks, the starting defensive end was optimistic.
"He said he left the game largely as a precaution," wrote Matt Barrows of The Athletic via social media. "He said he's optimistic about playing in two weeks. He's walking around without a limp in the 49ers locker room."
Hawkins, recently elevated from the practice squad, suffered a wrist injury late in the game.
With the conclusion of the 2023 regular season, the 49ers are now shifting their focus to the playoffs. As the top-seeded NFC squad, they await the weakest-seeded winner from the Wild Card Round, potentially the Los Angeles Rams or three other teams. Utilizing the extra week for preparation, the 49ers will keep a watchful eye on that first round of action.
When asked about the scouting plan for the first round of the playoffs, Shanahan said, "Yeah, we'll dabble in it all. We've got to do something with that stuff, or we'll go crazy as coaches, but hopefully, we'll find out by Sunday. It's starting to hit me that I don't think we can officially find out until maybe Monday because I know there's Monday night games, so that'll be a little bit different. Haven't gone through that. So we'll definitely plan for all the possibilities and be halfway in on a bunch, and as soon as we get told, then we'll be 100 percent in."
Shanahan noted that the 49ers have tried to be in a playoff mindset, even heading into a pretty meaningless Week 18 game for the team. San Francisco wants to enter the postseason with the right mentality.
"That's really what we talked about all week, having that playoff mindset, knowing the level that we have to play at coming in a couple of weeks," Shanahan stated. "And that's why it was so important for us to get a lot out of this week. We had to practice that way. We talked about it a lot last night at our team meeting and set the schedule for the week. And guys are going to have tomorrow off, but we'll come here Tuesday, treat it like a day after game on Tuesday, and get going."
The 49ers will practice twice this week, with the coach emphasizing that they will "practice real hard" during those sessions. Regarding the loss to McVay and the Rams, Shanahan acknowledged that he probably won't lose any sleep over it. Nonetheless, any defeat is somewhat frustrating, even in a game that the 49ers treated like a glorified preseason contest.
"It's annoying to lose to everybody," Shanahan expressed. "It's a little bit more when it's your rivals or when it's someone in your division. It's always a little bit more when you know people, but it's not just him (McVay). There's a bunch of people on the staff I know, so they all annoy me."
The coach said that last part with a smile on his face.
When asked if there is any benefit to playing the Rams in Week 18, a team the 49ers might see in a couple of weeks, Shanahan responded, "I don't think so."
