Should Kyle Shanahan be on the hot seat?

The 49ers head coach has taken a lot of criticism for his handling of the team this season.

To say that the 2024 season has been underwhelming for the San Francisco 49ers would be an understatement.

Initially perceived as Super Bowl favorites heading into the season, the 49ers are at 5-6 with their playoff hopes simmering by the week, as injuries and a decline in play have hurt the team on both sides of the ball.

Given San Francisco’s expectations and their ultimate shortcomings in not only reaching, but winning a Super Bowl, many have criticized head coach Kyle Shanahan for his handling of the team this season, even going as far as calling for his job.

Shanahan, sporting a head coaching record of 69-57, could be on the way to his fourth losing season in eight years, which would mark the first time San Francisco would miss the playoffs in four years.

Should Shanahan be on the hot seat and worry about his job heading into the final stretch of the season?

Well, wide receiver Deebo Samuel addressed the topic on his podcast, Cleats and Convos, this week, pointing out the recent success that Shanahan has had with the 49ers.

“I don’t think so,” Samuel said on his podcast. “Kind of, since I’ve been here, I don’t think we had nothing but one losing season. And I think that was Covid. And, you can sit back and you can harp on everybody being injured. That year, I had a broke foot.”

“Super Bowl… NFC Championship. Year after that: NFC Championship again. Last year: Super Bowl… Why are you saying he’s on the hot seat?”

Looking back at the start of Shanahan’s tenure, the 49ers head coach inherited one of the worst rosters in the NFL without a stable quarterback solution.

So, it made sense that his first two seasons would be losing years, which ultimately became a blessing in disguise as San Francisco’s 4-12 record in 2018 paved the way for them to earn the No. 2 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft and select star pass-rusher Nick Bosa.

After building his team through the draft, the 49ers saw their breakthrough in 2019 with a trip to the Super Bowl, fresh off that ugly 4-12 season, with Shanahan and general manager John Lynch successfully putting together the turnaround in a short period of time.

Injuries ravaged the 2020 season for San Francisco, as Shanahan mentioned, when a bevy of star players dealt with concerns throughout the year, beginning with an ugly Week 2 at MetLife Stadium against the New York Jets.

Fast-forward to this season and it’s a similar story. The 49ers are dealing with numerous injuries, which has really hurt their team, as this year’s group is a top-heavy roster reliant on stars to perform.

Has Shanahan done a great job this year? No. Nobody with the 49ers has and you can make the argument that the head coach shoulders the biggest responsibility for the team’s late-game collapses throughout the season.

But, to say that an injury-ravaged year should ultimately cost the head coach his job after what he’s done for the franchise over the past few seasons would be an overreaction.

More importantly, the move would be unrealistic, given that owner Jed York stepped up to extend Shanahan just last offseason, putting blind faith in his head coach even without seeing the final result that the franchise has been yearning for: a Super Bowl.

Shanahan should be leading this franchise for years to come, but will face a critical period now as the 49ers look to retool their roster this offseason and remain in the field of competition.

However, the hot seat talk is just that at this point: talk.