On Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers got their first taste of what life could be like without Kyle Shanahan, following the head coach’s car accident that will limit his training camp coaching duties. Assistant coach Chris Foerster took over much of the head coaching responsibilities, Shanahan attended practice but worked in the background as he recovered.
“It’s really a team thing,” Foerster said via the team’s official transcript. “The title puts me in this position and I was very grateful for that [president of football operations/general manager] Johannes [Lynch] and Kyle felt that some of the things I could take the lead on, like this right here. But there are other things, for example our team meetings. Instead of me running each team meeting, we’ll split into attack and defense and [defensive coordinator] Raheem [Morris] and [offensive coordinator] Clay [Kubiak] will do things. Maybe we will join [special teams coordinator Brant] Boyer lead alone and cover different things.
“Kyle, one of the biggest things he does is how he leads team meetings and talks football. Teaches the team football, teaches the team everything, you know. It’s going to be more of a team effort than ever. It’s not going to be all on me. As far as certain things, we’re all going to take a piece, and that’s how this thing will go, when my name was called, then my name was said, then my name was said. it’s going to be done by all the assistants.”
In a July 14 car accident, Shanahan suffered three broken ribs, a broken hand, a broken nose and a “severe” concussion after crashing an SUV near his home in Northern California, ESPN reported. The club said the coach will be limited in his duties until he is cleared.
Foerster said he learned of his increased responsibility when the club issued its press release over the weekend.
“I’m fired up. I’m excited,” Foerster said. “Not from the point of view that I’m fired up from the point of view of ‘Oh, Kyle’s down, this is my big chance.’ No, I love the opportunity to help. What I learned a long, long time ago, I believe leadership is that you serve in leadership. You help people by serving. And servant leadership is any way I can help. Any way I can help Kyle, any way I can help the 49ers, any way I can help John Lynch, any way I can help my players. Any way I can help you. Anything I can do to help. That’s where I get paid out of life. I learned it in many difficult times in my life, to be that way. So this is another opportunity to stand up here. And those of you who were here before, I like to come here and talk about football. It’s not about me. I like to talk balls. I like to share football. I think it’s a great game, it’s a great sport and a lot of people don’t understand it. And if you have a chance to learn a little bit more, I like to talk about it because I love the game.”
Foerster said certain tasks will be assigned until Shanny returns full time.
“I assigned the team meeting this morning to offense and defense,” Foerster said. “We decided to do it that way today instead of having a huddle. And we’ll see how we go every week, every day what it is. That’s about it now.”
The “every week” comment indicates that Foerster anticipates several weeks of absence for Shanahan. Lynch said this weekend that he expects Shanahan to be ready for the team’s Sept. 10 regular-season opener against the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne, Australia. Anything between a week and Sept. 9 could be in play as Shanahan recovers.