Four days later, Steve Wilks’ controversial zero blitz play call at the end of the first half of the 49ers’ loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night was still causing controversy.
As the 49ers try to move on from the loss to the Vikings and focus on the Cincinnati Bengals, Wilks’ play call, which ultimately led to a Minnesota touchdown, was brought up again when Kyle Shanahan spoke to reporters on Friday.
A day after Wilks took full responsibility for the call, Shanahan shifted the blame onto himself while answering a question about conversations between the two coaches this week.
“It’s all about football, the fact that this happened,” Shanahan told reporters Friday in Santa Clara. “There was a timing issue which is why we couldn’t make this decision and that is, without a doubt, my fault. “I am the one who can stop this and that is why I bear the ultimate responsibility for everything. But when I was asked about the call two days ago, he knew we couldn’t get it out of time and I screwed up not taking time out so we couldn’t do it.
“But I had no problem with the call as far as our work goes. I love the all out blitz attack.
When Shanahan spoke to reporters on Wednesday, he made it clear that Wilks “made mistakes” and offered a blunt assessment of the situation.
On Friday, 49ers general manager John Lynch was asked what happened this week during an appearance on KNBR’s “Murph and Mac Show.”
“I think one thing has hopefully become clear and appreciated by everyone here in the Bay Area and 49ers fans: Loyal wherever they are, they have a head coach who is one of the most overtly honest people you will ever meet “” Lynch said. “If you had been in our room internally, we would have told you and our entire team how much confidence he had in Steve, and that was communicated.”
“But both things can be true. You can have a lot of faith and not like a particular call. Even in the quote he pulled, where he definitely shouldn’t have said that, there was a lot of context as to why Steve might do that.” I mentioned that and the chain of events that led to it, and that he has a lot of faith and all those things.
Shanahan, Wilks, Lynch and the 49ers all hope to put the controversial decision behind them when they host the Bengals at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday.
RELATED: Charvarius Ward defends Wilks’ zero-blitz play call
A good performance is what everyone involved needs to wipe the sour taste out of their mouths.
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