Brock Purdy.is being fired only three days after the San Francisco 49ers lost Super Bowl 58 to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers’ head coach, stated Wednesday that the defensive coordinator has been “relieved of his duties”.
“I slept on it for a few nights, attempting to make some difficult decisions, but this morning I relieved Steve Wilks of
his responsibilities. I’m going to make a change here as defensive coordinator. Really difficult decision. “It says
nothing about Steve as a man or a football coach,” Shanahan stated. “He’s an excellent football coach. But, looking at
where we’re headed and where we’re at with our team in terms of plan and things like that, from the beginning of the
year to the last few days, I felt very strongly that this was the greatest decision for our organization.”
Shanahan’s decision to remove Wilks contradicts what he told reporters during his year-end press conference on
Tuesday, when he declared, “I expect all of our coaches to be back.”
However, Shanahan admitted on Wednesday that he was unsure about Wilks’ destiny as of Tuesday.
Wilks led the 49ers defense for only one season. In 2023, the 49ers had the NFL’s eighth-ranked total defense under
Wilks. However, San Francisco had the NFL’s best defensive unit the previous season and a top-three defense in
2021.
Wilks took over as defensive coordinator for the 49ers after DeMeco Ryans left to become head coach of the Houston
Texans in January. Wilks’ departure means the 49ers will have their third defensive coordinator in as many seasons.
“It ended up not being the right fit,” Shanahan explained. “It hurt for me to do this but it’s exactly what I had to.”
The 54-year-old coach previously served as interim head coach for the Carolina Panthers in 2022, when Matt Rhule
was dismissed during the season. Wilks previously served as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals for one season in
2018.
