Kyle Shanahan defends 49ers special teams amid criticisms

The San Francisco 49ers' special teams unit had another miscue in Thursday night's victory over the Seattle Seahawks. Trailing 23-3 in the third quarter and searching for a spark, Seahawks wide receiver Laviska Shenault Jr. returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown, narrowing the deficit and making 49ers fans nervous after seeing their team collapse late in multiple games.

While watching special teams errors is nothing new for 49ers fans, head coach Kyle Shanahan defended the unit during his post-game press conference.

"I thought the special teams made some plays today," Shanahan told reporters. "They got a fumble for us, a huge recovery, which I forget whether that led to a field goal or touchdown. Last week they scored a touchdown with a blocked kick returned for a touchdown.

"I thought we didn't have a great kickoff, and from what I saw live, we had an unblocked guy who missed a tackle, and then they hit the lane."

Shanahan emphasized that improved tackling could address many of the 49ers' struggles across the board. He also highlighted the need for the special teams unit to improve on kickoffs.

"We'd love to get a better kickoff and stuff, and we've got to keep challenging ourselves as coaches, our players, everybody, especially when you got some guys down on defense, you guys can see that," Shanahan continued. "And it's even worse on special teams when that happens. But we gotta do better. But I was still happy they made some plays today, too."

Al Sacco of the "No Huddle Podcast" took a more critical stance on the 49ers' special teams, identifying it as a significant weakness.

"We can't brush it under the rug because it's going to cost the 49ers games," Sacco told co-host Brian Renick. "One of the reasons they lost the Super Bowl is they were negative points on special teams ... and they continue to have negative plays that affect them on special teams. This team wants to win a Super Bowl. They're getting older. You've got to fix that.

"And I think, right now, what has [special teams coordinator] Brian Schneider done to justify keeping his job? How can you stay status quo here? At what point do you have to make some kind of change? And if you can't change personnel, and I don't know that they can, you have to make some sort of adjustment."

Sacco believes an in-season change in the special teams coordinator position may be necessary if the unit does not improve significantly in the coming weeks.

"You cannot continue to stay with the product you're putting out there week in and week out, giving these returns up at terrible times," Sacco concluded. "... Kyle Shanahan, you have to make a decision there and do something. I just think Brian Schneider's time is over."

You can listen to the entire podcast episode below.