{"id":901136,"date":"2026-05-25T20:21:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T20:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/901136\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T20:21:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T20:21:36","slug":"kyle-shanahan-john-lynchs-49ers-future-hangs-in-the-balance-as-one-bad-season-could-force-both-out-insider-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/901136\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Shanahan & John Lynch\u2019s 49ers Future Hangs in the Balance as One Bad Season Could Force Both Out, Insider Warns"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Francisco 49ers<\/a> owner\/CEO Jed York has already shown that he is willing to torch a regime when the season collapses. Back in 2016, he fired head coach Chip Kelly and general manager Trent Baalke after a 2-14 finish, and said the franchise needed a \u201cnew direction.\u201d That history is why the conversation around Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch \u2013 the ones who replaced Kelly and Baalke in 2017 \u2013 keeps drifting back to the same place: are they on the hot seat?<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like at a certain point the Yorks have to say, \u2018it\u2019s been nice, but we really can\u2019t get over the hump.\u2019 And I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen this year, but I think there\u2019s a lot of pressure on these guys,\u201d Sports Illustrated\u2019s Grant Cohn theorized on the 49ers Collective podcast<\/a>. \u201cI think if they make it to the NFC Championship game, they\u2019ll get extensions. But if they don\u2019t, it\u2019ll be like, \u2018man, it\u2019s been a few years, you\u2019re not getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Shanahan\u2019s resume is already heavy: two Super Bowl appearances, a 12-5 finish last season, and five playoff trips without a title since 2017. But even with a consistent postseason appearance, they still haven\u2019t won a ring. Is that enough to shut the door on Shanahan and Lynch?<\/p>\n

On the podcast, Alex Boone<\/a>, the former Niners guard, pushed back on the idea that York is ready to clean house. Instead, Boone called the Niners, Shanahan and Lynch\u2019s \u201cbaby,\u201d and pointed to how often this front office kept the 49ers in check last season when their quarterback room saw a major injury concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you realize that this team has been competitive?\u201d Boone asked. \u201cLet me put it to you this way: the fact that they made the playoffs last year and their $250 million quarterback wasn\u2019t even playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Franchise quarterback Brock Purdy<\/a> got sidelined with a turf toe injury right at the season opener against the Seattle Seahawks<\/a>. They\u2019d just signed him to a $265 million, five-year extension that offseason. Backup quarterback Mac Jones<\/a> managed a 5-3 record in his absence, and the Niners finished 12-5 after Purdy came back in Week 11.<\/p>\n

NFL Sportscaster Larry Krueger pointed out that even coaches with championship rings do not get forever. He recalled Mike Tomlin, who stepped down from the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>\u2019 head coach position after 19 winning seasons. John Harbaugh was the other stark case study, fired by the Baltimore Ravens<\/a> after 18 seasons with the team.<\/p>\n

Even Andy Reid, one of the most reputed coaches in the history of the sport, had to walk away from the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> after a 13-year run ended with consecutive postseason exits. Krurger then looked at the 49ers\u2019 own history.<\/p>\n

\u201cChip Kelly years, Tomsula years. They lost credibility in the eyes of the league, and John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan have restored that,\u201d Krueger said. \u201cThey haven\u2019t won at all, but I think it\u2019s more about how close do they get if they start getting further and further away from the target? I think they could be lopped off in the next two or three years. If they start missing the playoffs, if they start going 8 and 9, if they have years like that, then all of a sudden I think Jed\u2019s going to be like, \u2018You know what? You don\u2019t get forever.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NFL,NFL, American Football Herren, USA Super Bowl LVIII San Francisco 49ers press conference, PK, Pressekonferenz Feb 7, 2024 Las Vegas<\/a>, NV, USA San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan speaks during a press conference before Super Bowl LVIII at Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort and Spa. Las Vegas Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort and Spa NV USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xKylexTeradax 20240207_jla_st3_111<\/p>\n

Those lost years were very real. When Jed York fired Jim Harbaugh after his fourth season with the team, the Niners upgraded defensive line coach Jim Tomsula to head coach for 2015. Tomsula had previously served as the interim head coach in 2010, when York fired Mike Singletary. However, Tomsula went 5-11 in 2015 and was fired hours after the season ended. Chip Kelly, up next, had a 13-game losing streak and finished the season 2-14.<\/p>\n

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Now, on paper, Jed York has already committed to this regime. The Athletic\u2019s Matt Barrows had made the case back in March that the Niners would sign both their leaders to extensions, just not right away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Shanahan is eyeing free agency,\u201d Barrows wrote. \u201cI believe he has three years remaining on his contract and that general manager John Lynch has two. My guess is that the 49ers brass will check in with Lynch at some point this offseason. They probably wouldn\u2019t approach Shanahan until next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lynch and Shanahan rebuilt the roster and repaired the brand. But York\u2019s history says one clean season slipping below his standards can push him for a hard reset once again. The locker room will be feeling that tension this season. Whether Kyle Shanahan can still command it<\/a> is a separate question, but it\u2019s one his players have started answering on his behalf.<\/p>\n

Kyle Shanahan\u2019s progress with the Niners<\/p>\n

How the locker room views Shanahan complicates the clean-break logic. All-Pro fullback Kyle Juszczyk<\/a> told NBC Sports Bay Area\u2019s Laura Britt that Shanahan is not the same coach he was when he arrived back in 2017.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOver 10 years, honestly, I could say he\u2019s probably developed in every phase and has improved,\u201d Juszczyk said. \u201cI think the one that really stands out is just his comfortability standing in front of the team and addressing the team and speaking to a group of men and doing it confidently.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DecemberDecember 22, 2025: San Francisco 49ers running back Kyle Juszczyk 44 during pregame of NFL, American Football Herren, USA game action against the Indianapolis Colts<\/a> at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis<\/a>, Indiana. \/CSM Indianapolis United States of America \u2013 ZUMAc04_ 20251222_zma_c04_164 Copyright: xJohnxMersitsx<\/p>\n

A coach who owns the room and keeps adapting makes it harder to argue that he\u2019s actually on a hot seat. His player, Juszczyk, has already seen how his coach approaches everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s the first day of training camp, he\u2019ll go back and watch last year\u2019s meeting of the first day of training camp to see what he said,\u201d Juszczyk added. \u201cAnd I think part of that is not to just keep saying the same thing, and to keep it fresh. That\u2019s another thing that he\u2019s so great at doing, is adapting to the roster that he does have.\u201d<\/p>\n

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There is no denying that Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch have turned the San Francisco 49ers into fierce competitors. But right now, they still sit in the gap between \u2018necessary\u2019 and \u2018expendable.\u2019 One flat season that misses Cohn\u2019s NFC title-game bar would give York cover to decide the Shanahan-Lynch era has eaked.<\/p>\n

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The post Kyle Shanahan & John Lynch\u2019s 49ers Future Hangs in the Balance as One Bad Season Could Force Both Out, Insider Warns<\/a> appeared first on EssentiallySports<\/a>. Add EssentiallySports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Francisco 49ers owner\/CEO Jed York has already shown that he is willing to torch a regime when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":901137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,80678,117,2644,2251,7,2004,392,13365,2909,2810,2867,2812,120909,1744,5215,6,109,57,1161,252,2624,2623,261,7050],"class_list":["post-901136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco-49ers","tag-49ers","tag-alex-boone","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-brock-purdy","tag-chip-kelly","tag-football","tag-indianapolis","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-jed-york","tag-john-harbaugh","tag-john-lynch","tag-kyle-juszczyk","tag-kyle-shanahan","tag-larry-krueger","tag-las-vegas","tag-mac-jones","tag-nfl","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-sanfrancisco","tag-sanfrancisco49ers","tag-seattle-seahawks","tag-trent-baalke"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116637079203405903","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901136","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=901136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}