On Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers got their first taste of what life could be like sans Kyle Shanahan, following the head coach’s car crash that will limit his coaching duties during training camp. Assistant head coach Chris Foerster took over much of the head-coaching responsibilities, with Shanahan attending practice but working in the background as he recovers.
"It's really a group thing," Foerster said via the team's official transcript. "The title puts me in this position, and I was very grateful that [president of football operations/general manager] John [Lynch] and Kyle felt that some of the things I could take the lead on, like this right here. But there's other things, for example, our team meetings. Instead of me running every team meeting, we'll split up on offense and defense and [defensive coordinator] Raheem [Morris] and [offensive coordinator] Klay [Kubiak] will do things. Maybe we'll have [special teams coordinator Brant] Boyer lead one and cover different things.
"Kyle, one of the greatest things he does is how he leads a team meeting and talks football. Teaches the team football, teaches the team everything, you know. That's going to be more of a group effort than ever. It's not going to all fall on me. As far as certain things, we'll all take a piece, and that's how this thing's going to be done. Truly, when John said what the release said, that listed my name but then 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 sustained a "severe" concussion after colliding with an SUV near his Northern California home, ESPN reported. The club said that the coach would be limited in his duties until cleared.
Foerster said he found out about his increased responsibility when the club put out its press release over the weekend.
"I'm fired up. I'm excited," Foerster said. "Not from the standpoint of I'm fired up from the standpoint of 'Oh, Kyle's down, this is my big chance.' No, it's I love the opportunity to help. What I learned a long, long time ago, I believe leadership is 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 guys. Anything I can do to help. That's where I get a charge out of life. I learned that through a lot of difficult times in my life, being that way. So this is another opportunity to stand up here. And you guys that were here before, I like getting up here and talking about football. It's not about me. I like talking ball. I like sharing 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 more, I like to talk about it because I love the game."
Foerster said certain tasks will be delegated until Shanny returns full-time.
"I delegated this morning's team meeting out to offense and defense," Foerster said. "We decided to do it that way today instead of doing a team meeting. And we'll see as we go each week, each day what it is. That's about it right now."
The "each week" comment suggests that Foerster anticipates a multi-week absence for Shanahan. Lynch said over the weekend that he anticipates Shanahan being ready for the team's Sept. 10 regular-season kickoff against the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne, Australia. Anything between a week and Sept. 9 could be in play as Shanahan recovers.
