{"id":657666,"date":"2026-01-06T05:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T05:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/657666\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T05:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T05:24:16","slug":"kyle-shanahan-makes-no-excuses-for-49ers-defense-vs-seahawks-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/657666\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Shanahan makes no excuses for 49ers\u2019 defense vs. Seahawks \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 49ers’ 13-3 loss<\/a> to the Seattle Seahawks was their third game in 13 days, but coach Kyle Shanahan<\/a> believes that’s not an excuse for the overabundance of missed tackles by the defense on Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, that definitely doesn’t make it easier,\u201d Shanahan said on Monday via conference call. \u201cI think that stuff adds up. I think it does with injuries and stuff, too, but that can’t be your excuse for it. I mean, that’s just stuff that doesn’t make it easier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to find a way to do it. We said it during the game and it’s only more evident after, 18 missed tackles were way too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

The missed tackles gave way to 180 yards on the ground made by the Seahawks — the most the 49ers allowed this season — and another 181 through the air by former San Francisco backup quarterback Sam Darnold<\/a>. But one play in particular clearly broke the spirit of Robert Saleh<\/a>‘s defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With a little more than four minutes left in the third quarter, Darnold fumbled a handoff to Zach Charbonnet<\/a> for a loss of seven. On the ensuing play, linebacker Tatum Bethune<\/a> broke up a pass intended for Seattle tight end AJ Barner<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In that third-and-17 situation, Kenneth Walker III<\/a> took the handoff from Darnold and ran the ball 19 yards through several 49ers defenders for a first down. It was a well-designed play by Seattle, but it also appeared like the 49ers’ defense was moving more slowly than their opponents, with multiple missed tackles on the play.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It] just tracks their top speed and how much yardage they cover in a game,\u201d Shanahan said of the GPS devices in players’ shoulder pads. \u201cOur guys were, speed-wise, fine. They were same as the week before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now the defense has the tough task of preparing for the No. 3-seeded Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> in the first round of the NFC playoffs, and an equally lethal ground game led by All-Pro running back Saquon Barkley.<\/p>\n

This time, the defense will be without Bethune<\/a>, who suffered a season-ending groin injury in the loss.<\/p>\n

But the extra day to rest, recoup and prepare should help the 49ers.<\/p>\n

Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 49ers’ 13-3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks was their third game in 13 days, but coach Kyle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7,2812],"class_list":{"0":"post-657666","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-kyle-shanahan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115846491554486034","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}