SANTA CLARA, Calif. — In the aftermath of their NFC Championship Game win against the Detroit Lions , the San Francisco 49ers first felt a sense of relief followed by joy and then, after watching the tape, at least a little bit of disappointment.
For all of coach Kyle Shanahan’s tenure since taking over in 2017, the Niners have prided themselves on playing at full speed all the time. But on multiple plays in the 34-31 win against the Lions, Shanahan and his staff spotted issues with effort.
It was a jarring sight.
“Collectively as a team, I can tell you as a defense it’s unacceptable,” defensive coordinator Steve Wilks said Friday. “We talked about that. I wish I could tell these guys on Play 4, on Play 27, this is what’s going to happen. You don’t know. So we’ve got to make sure that we play every down as if it’s going to be the difference in the ballgame. And you could see on those particular plays, it wasn’t to our standard. Those guys understand and know that, and quite honestly it was embarrassing.”