What’s going on here? That’s probably what most 49ers fans might be asking right about now. First, they fired their special team coordinator, Brian Schneider. Soon after that, Kyle Shanahan and Co. came to the conclusion that Nick Sorensen was not the right guy for the defensive coordinator post. Finally! But wasn’t that the head coach himself who promoted Sorensen to the defensive coordinator post? And now he fired him just after one poor season.

Seems like Coach Shanahan has been handling many things for the team alone lately. Well, ask Emmanuel Acho, who’s got some major beef with his ways. “Let me be real about the Niners. Shanahan’s seat is officially hot,” Acho remarked. “You just fired your special teams coach. You just fired your defensive coordinator. You would fire your offensive coordinator, but you are the offensive coordinator.” 

But here’s where it gets real juicy. Let’s rewind to when the 49ers fired their DC, Steve Wilks, right after they lost the Super Bowl to the Chiefs. That said, the head coach later decided to promote Sorensen to the DC’s post. Fast forward to now, things are pretty much worse for the team, especially their defense. Result? The team now fired Sorensen as well.

The thing is, the Niners are back to the starting point and Acho suggests that hiring his friend wasn’t the right decision for Shanahan. “You hired your friend. You wasted a year because of cronyism. Someone benefiting from friendship with you because Steve Wilks had the number 2 defense in football with the Niners and you fired him,” Acho said. “Hired Nick Sorensen, hired him from within. He had a 25th or 23rd defense for the Niners and you said ‘I’m not gonna fire him. I’m gonna find another Niner position for him within the organization. So, because of friendship, you wasted a whole year of the Niners life.”

So what are the big takeaways from this? Well, if we’re really comparing the last two seasons for the Niners, things pretty much got worse for them this year whether it was due to Shanahan’s moves or any other reasons.

Kyle Shanahan’s moves wasted a year of the Niners’ defense

When it comes to the Niners’ defense, Acho is not backing out at all. “I would also go as far as to suggest, you wasted a year of Fred Warner’s life,” Acho continued. “You wasted a year of Nick Bosa’s life. You wasted a year of Charvarius Ward’s life. You wasted a year of DMO’s life, because you hired a defensive coordinator that was not suited for the job.”

Let’s take a moment to look at the Niners’ defense this season. It’s safe to say that the season hasn’t exactly been up to par. The San Francisco finished 29th in scoring defense, allowing 25.6 points per game, and 20th in defensive efficiency with 47.32 points. But wait, it gets worse. They’re sitting 26th in QBR allowed at 58.5 and 18th in rushing yards allowed per game with 124.6. As it appears, Acho’s statements are not without merit.

Now, let’s talk about Nick Bosa, who is considered to have wasted a year by Acho. To be honest, he’s had a bit of a dip this year. He only managed to sack the quarterback 7 times, which is a far cry from the 18.5 and 10.5 sacks he had in the past two seasons. As for Fred Warner and Charvarius Ward, their seasons were a bit of a mixed bag. But at the end of the day, no one’s celebrating a postseason berth with these numbers.

Looking at the bigger picture, it seems Kyle Shanahan’s close relationship with Sorensen may have hurt the team. And you can get the idea from last year itself. I mean, from playing in the Super Bowl to finishing with a disappointing 6-11 record, it’s clear something went wrong, especially with their defense. And what happened later? Shanahan and the front office decided to part ways with their DC.