Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers (6-7) find themselves in an unfamiliar position as they enter their Week 15 division rival matchup versus the Los Angeles Rams.
The 49ers franchise that’s made three consecutive trips to the NFC championship game and has won two straight NFC West titles are currently sitting in the basement of the division with just four regular-season games remaining.
“Last week felt like the playoffs already,” Shanahan said to reporters this week. “Since that Buffalo game, every week is a playoff game. So, it feels like it this week and hopefully we can take care of business, so next week feels the same.”
Injuries have certainly played a huge role in the 49ers’ 6-7 record. 49ers stars Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk and Javon Hargrave are among 13 San Francisco players who are on injured reserve. Left tackle Trent Williams (ankle) hasn’t played since Week 11 and is ruled out again for Thursday. Defensive end Nick Bosa, who’s missed the past three games with hip and oblique injuries, is listed as questionable.
Despite being hampered by injuries, the good news for San Francisco is they are just two games behind the Seattle Seahawks in the loss column (they split their season series vs. Seattle). And the Niners are one game behind a Rams club that they host Thursday night.
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One key factor that could help the 49ers make a late playoff push is finding a way to get versatile wide receiver Deebo Samuel the football. Samuel is averaging career-lows in receptions per game and yards per game.
The wideout aired out his frustrations on social media earlier this week.
‘Not struggling at all just not getting the ball!!!!!!!’ Samuel wrote on Monday in a since deleted tweet.
When local reporters asked Samuel about the deleted tweet. He replied: “[I’m] a little frustrated for sure.’
Shanahan admitted that he preferred that Samuel had kept his frustrations “in-house” but the head coach understands Samuel’s point of view.
“Deebo and I talk every day, I understand Deebo saying that,” Shanahan said. “Deebo wants to help us out and the only way he helps us out is getting the ball more, and we’d like to get it to him more and we’ll continue to work at that.”
The 49ers are a better team when they a variety of ways to get Samuel the ball, especially when the offense is missing players such as McCaffrey and Aiyuk. The wideout is the second player in NFL history to register 4,000-plus receiving yards and 1,000-plus rushing yards in his first five seasons.
Samuel should be a focal point of the 49ers’ offense if the team wants to defeat the Rams, get out of last place in the NFC West and make a late postseason surge. The 49ers seem to understand that after Samuel’s deleted social media post.
“I want to get Deebo the ball every play if I could. I want to have him break all the records as best as possible. I want Deebo to do Deebo things and we all do in this building,” 49ers QB Brock Purdy said.
“That’s just how the games have gone. But I love my guy and I’m going to do everything I can to give him the ball.”