Before Monday’s game, San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York told The San Francisco Standard that Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch aren’t “going anywhere” despite the team’s disappointing season.
Shanahan reacted to the news he’d be back for 2025 with a shrug Tuesday. He said he talks to York nearly every day and the relationship is as strong as it’s been in the eight years he’s been the head coach.
“Jed is very easy to talk to,” he said. “We’ve known each other here for eight years now and we feel very fortunate for how he is through the good and the bad. And the communication really never changes, regardless of what’s going on.”
As for Monday’s game, the Detroit Lions dominated the time of possession 34:52 to 25:08 and rolled up 152 yards on the ground. Jahmyr Gibbs’ 117 yards marked the fifth time in the last six games an opponent has rushed for more than 100 yards against the 49ers.
- Week 17: Gibbs, 117 yards
- Week 16: De’Von Achane, 120 yards
- Week 15: Kyren Williams, 108
- Week 13: James Cook, 107
- Week 12: Josh Jacobs, 106
The 49ers defense was on the field for 71 snaps and the offense played 64 snaps. Here’s how the individual snaps were divided:
Quarterback: Brock Purdy 59, Joshua Dobbs 5
One of the pregame storylines was how harried Purdy might be behind a makeshift offensive line. Per Pro Football Focus, he was under pressure on 12 of his dropbacks, which isn’t necessarily a good rate, but is the least amount of pressure he’s had in his last three outings. Which is to say, the line held up well considering the circumstances.
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Purdy hurt his elbow on a safety blitz by Brian Branch in which tailback Patrick Taylor Jr. was occupied by an inside rusher. That gave Branch a clean hit on Purdy.
Here’s the play on which Brock Purdy was hurt. Safety Brian Branch blitzes from the slot, RB Patrick Taylor Jr. helps out on an inside pass rusher, doesn’t see Branch. pic.twitter.com/urmFEfDIZA
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) December 31, 2024
Shanahan said he hadn’t yet decided who, Dobbs or Brandon Allen, would start Sunday in Arizona if, as expected, Purdy can’t play in the finale. However, Dobbs was tapped as the No. 2 quarterback against the Lions because, due to the state of the offensive line, the 49ers thought the situation might call for a scrambling quarterback and Dobbs is a better runner than Allen. The offensive line composition is likely to be similar Sunday to what it was Monday.
Running back: Isaac Guerendo 39, Kyle Juszczyk (fullback) 27, Taylor 13, Deebo Samuel 7
It was a strong game for Guerendo, who didn’t have a lot of open running lanes but still managed 34 yards on nine carries. Per PFF, all 34 yards came after contact.
Guerendo also did well as a receiver, catching all four targets for 65 yards. It was a career high for the rookie and the second-highest receiving total of the season for a 49ers tailback after Christian McCaffrey’s 68 yards in the Week 10 win at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Receiver: Jauan Jennings 60, Samuel 46, Ricky Pearsall 45, Jacob Cowing 5, Chris Conley 4
The 49ers had good electricity early on, especially Jennings, who blocked cornerback Terrion Arnold out of the end zone and into the first-row barrier on a red zone running play. The sequence sparked offsetting unnecessary roughness calls. Jennings later goaded the Lions into a second unnecessary roughness penalty in the fourth quarter.
“I thought Jauan brought a completely different energy tonight,” George Kittle said after the game. “It was violent and angry. And that’s a Jauan we need to be successful.”
Teammates credited Jauan Jennings for giving them an early spark, especially when he blocked an opponent out of the back of the end zone and to the first row of stands. Jennings goaded the Lions into two personal fouls on Monday.
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— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows.bsky.social) December 31, 2024 at 1:19 PM
Pearsall’s 141 yards, meanwhile, were a career high as he posted the most yards by a 49ers rookie since Jerry Rice’s 241-yard game. Pearsall’s total was the third most by a 49ers rookie receiver all time and fourth most by any 49ers pass catcher this season:
- Jennings: 175, Week 3 at Los Angeles Rams
- Kittle: 151, Week 14 vs. Chicago Bears
- Aiyuk: 147, Week 5 vs. Arizona Cardinals
- Pearsall: 141, Week 17 vs. Detroit Lions
- Kittle: 128: Week 8 vs. Dallas Cowboys
Tight end: Kittle 60, Eric Saubert 13, Brayden Willis 1
Kittle is now over 1,000 receiving yards for the season (1,079), the fourth year he’s surpassed that mark. Only four other tight ends in NFL history have four 1,000-yard seasons, and just one of those, the Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce, has more than four (7).
Kittle also has four games of 100 or more receiving yards this season, the only tight end in the league to accomplish that. Among tight ends this year, he trails the Las Vegas Raiders’ Brock Bowers by 65 yards and the Cardinals’ Trey McBride by 2 yards heading into the finale in Arizona.
Offensive line: Nick Zakelj 64, Jake Brendel 64, Dominick Puni 64, Colton McKivitz 64, Charlie Heck 32, Austen Pleasants 32
Because McKivitz (knee) didn’t practice much during the week, newcomers Heck and Pleasants got the lion’s share of the practice repetitions at both tackle spots. Heck started the game at left tackle, played two series, then gave way to Pleasants and the two rotated like that for the rest of the game.
It also was the first-ever start for Zakelj, who gets the bulk of his practice snaps at center but who played left guard Monday. He gave up two quarterback pressures but no sacks.
QB pressures allowed:
- Pleasants 2
- Puni 2
- Zakelj 2
- Brendel 1
- Heck 1
- McKivitz 1
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Defensive line: Nick Bosa 62, Maliek Collins 48, Jordan Elliott 39, Yetur Gross-Matos 38, Evan Anderson 31, Sam Okuayinonu 28, Kalia Davis 21, Leonard Floyd 13, Alex Barrett 6
Bosa took all but 10 snaps from the left side of the defensive line, which matched him against one of the NFL’s top tackles in Detroit’s Penei Sewell. That wasn’t a coincidence.
“He’s a really good player and, yeah, I wanted to see where I’m at against him,” said Bosa, who is as healthy as he’s been in the last two months.
He got five quarterback pressures and one sack working against Sewell. The other sack came when he beat left tackle Taylor Decker.
Bosa has nine sacks on the season, edging him past Floyd (8 1/2) for the team lead. Floyd left the game with a shoulder injury and is considered day to day.
Linebacker: Fred Warner 71, Dee Winters 62, Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles 15, Jalen Graham 11, Tatum Bethune 4
It was another whirlwind game for Winters. On the plus side, he finished second on the team with eight tackles. However, Winters also seemed to get fooled in coverage on a Detroit 2-point conversion, had two missed tackles and was forced to to come off the field twice due to injuries. (He was not on Shanahan’s injury list Tuesday.)
Despite his twice coming out of the game, Winters’ 62 snaps were a career high. Depending on what happens in free agency with Dre Greenlaw, Winters either will be the strongside (No. 3) linebacker or will be in the running for the weakside (No. 2) job next season. The 49ers placed Greenlaw (calf) on injured reserve, officially ending his season.
Cornerback: Deommodore Lenoir 71, Renardo Green 71, Isaac Yiadom 48
Shanahan said he expected Charvarius Ward back at the team facility Tuesday. He didn’t want to speak for Ward but hinted that the cornerback, who lost his 1-year-old daughter in October, was returning with good news regarding his girlfriend’s recent pregnancy.
“Since he hasn’t (announced) it yet, I should let him do that,” Shanahan said. “But it is positive stuff. I’d like to (say something), but I just haven’t talked to him, so I’ll let him do that.”
Safety: Malik Mustapha 69, Talanoa Hufanga 56, Ji’Ayir Brown 17
The 49ers had lapses on fourth down, allowing receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown to score an easy touchdown in the third quarter and tight end Sam La Porta to grab a wide-open 19-yard catch in the fourth quarter.
Shanahan said the 49ers were in a “soft cloud” coverage on the St. Brown touchdown and “didn’t drive on the ball hard enough” on the throw. As for the La Porta catch, the Lions lined up in a bunch formation. When two 49ers, Warner and Mustapha, followed the running back inside, it left no one on La Porta.
Special teams: Saubert 21, Barrett 20, Yiadom 19, Bethune 15, Conley 14, Willis 14, Brown 14, Jake Moody 13, Flannigan-Fowles 11, Jake Tonges 11, Samuel 8, Taylor 8, Graham 8, Pat O’Donnell 7, Taybor Pepper 7, McKivitz 7, Puni 7, Zakelj 7, Matt Hennessy 7, Heck 7, Pleasants 7, Hufanga 6, Tashaun Gipson Sr. 6, Anderson 6, Elliott 6, Gross-Matos 6, Collins 6, Mustapha 6, Warner 6, Lenoir 6, Nick McCloud 6, Rock Ya-Sin 1.
Shanahan said Moody, who missed two field goals, an extra point and who blasted an on-side kick out of bounds for a penalty, would remain the kicker in Sunday’s finale. Shanahan said only one of the kicks, the extra-point miss, didn’t have a clean snap and hold.
“He still needs to make it, but that was the one that wasn’t a clean hold and snap, which made that one a lot tougher,” Shanahan said.
Samuel hit 20 mph on his 37-yard kick return in the third quarter, according to Next Gen Stats. To put that in perspective, Gibbs — who ran his 40-yard dash at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine in 4.36 seconds — reached 20.29 mph on his 30-yard touchdown run.
(Photo of Jauan Jennings: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
