San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan did not think much of one question he received at his year-end press conference Wednesday.
The 49ers had major issues with quarterback injuries all season, with Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo both suffering season-ending injuries. Brock Purdy later suffered a major injury in the NFC Championship game, and his replacement, Josh Johnson, was also knocked out of that game by a concussion.
Shanahan was asked if he felt his playcalling had anything to do with the Niners’ run of quarterback injuries, and the head coach made it pretty obvious that he did not think much of the question.
Shanahan was asked whether his play-calling was the reason why his QBs kept getting hurt.
"Common sense would answer that question."
"No quarterbacks got hurt when we had to hand it off the whole second half so we can look into that."
Lynch's smirk. pic.twitter.com/Okeuylfuhr
— Kyle Posey (@KP_Show) February 1, 2023
“When you ask that question, I understand, but if you looked at the injuries, common sense would answer that question,” Shanahan said. “Sorry Josh got a concussion when he hit the ground. I’m sorry our quarterback got his elbow bent backwards on a dropback pass. I’m sorry on a dropback pass someone rolled up on Jimmy’s ankle. And then we have a dual-threat quarterback who got hurt running the ball. No quarterbacks got hurt when we had to hand it off the whole second half, so we can look into that.”
Shanahan can be forgiven for being annoyed with this line of questioning, because he is correct here. The injuries to Purdy and Garoppolo could have happened to any quarterback and had nothing to do with the plays they were running. Lance got hurt on a designed run, which Shanahan had to defend at the time, but as he noted here, Lance is a mobile quarterback and the 49ers were comfortable with the risks that came with embracing that.
Things got bad enough that even a franchise legend seemed to be blaming the coaching staff for getting players hurt. No wonder Shanahan is sick of hearing this line of thinking, especially when it does not really hold up to scrutiny.
