San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan had hoped his veteran pass rusher, Dee Ford, would return for this past weekend's game against the Minnesota Vikings. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, and Ford remains on the injured reserve list after the 49ers opened his practice window last week.

Back issues landed Ford landed on injured reserve. On Monday, Shanahan spoke with reporters via a conference call and provided an update on his recovering defender.

"We tried him out last week," Shanahan said. "We hoped to ease him in a little bit and hoped he'd be able to go. He wasn't able to, so we'll try the same plan this week and see if it does better."

In his six game appearances this season, Ford recorded five tackles, two tackles for a loss, three sacks, and four quarterback hits before the injury sidelined him.

More San Francisco 49ers News