Kyle Shanahan and his father, Mike, have turned a long list of overlooked running backs into productive NFL players with their famed zone-blocking scheme, yet their game-planning brilliance and ability to find diamonds in the rough never seems to lose its luster.
For his latest trick, Kyle Shanahan helped fourth-string 49ers running back Jeff Wilson Jr. look like the team’s next breakout star against the New England Patriots on Sunday as the former undrafted free agent ran for a career-high 112 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries in San Francisco’s 33-6 victory.
“He’s an absolute monster,” tight end George Kittle said of Wilson. “He has one of my favorite mindsets. He’s a completely different person on game day. It’s just a dark place he goes to and I love everything about that.”
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With starting tailback Raheem Mostert on injured reserve with a high-ankle sprain and backup Tevin Coleman sidelined since Week 2 with a knee injury, Wilson was forced into action on Sunday and exceeded expectations with a relentless downhill running style and impressive physicality between the tackles. Wilson wasn’t active a week ago because of a calf injury and had only registered 48 rushing attempts over the past two seasons before surpassing his previous career-high of 90 yards with 92 in the first half against New England.
“We knew on Monday that if Jeff was healthy, he was going to be starting that week,” Shanahan said. “We weren’t really sure of that until he got a lot more (reps) in practice on Thursday.”
The 49ers thought they could put the game in ice by keeping the ball in Wilson’s hands, but he rolled his ankle while scoring his third touchdown in the third quarter and left the sideline on a medical cart.
The 49ers don’t know the severity of Wilson’s ankle injury, but Shanahan said after the game the initial belief is Wilson suffered a high-ankle sprain, which would likely require a stint on injured reserve and a multiweek absence.
Wilson’s brief roller coaster ride from a part-time contributor to offensive catalyst to exiting Sunday’s game with an injury is suddenly a microcosm of the 49ers’ season. In an effort to return to the playoffs after appearing in the Super Bowl in February, the 49ers have been decimated by injuries and at some positions, including running back, are down to players who expected to spend the year trying to keep their jobs on a practice squad.
At 4-3, the 49ers have overcome early adversity including an ugly blowout loss to the Miami Dolphins, but there’s now a question of how much more they can handle if they want to survive a brutal portion of the schedule. Shanahan’s offense and Robert Saleh’s defense continue to have backups emerge as capable replacements, but it’s fair to wonder if and when the team will hit a breaking point.
After leaving the game in the third quarter, Wilson was replaced in the backfield by yet another undrafted running back, Baylor product JaMycal Hasty. The 49ers dominated at the line of scrimmage to the point that it didn’t necessarily matter who lined up behind quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, but Hasty still looked like an NFL-caliber rusher as he racked up 57 yards on nine carries behind a resurgent 49ers offensive line.
“That’s always been the identity of Kyle’s offense,” left tackle Trent Williams said. “It’s a ‘run the ball first, balance it out, do a lot off the play action’ (offense). Our offense doesn’t go unless we run the ball. That’s something that’s very important to us and we’ve worked a ton at it.”
There’s no better testament to the Shanahan offensive system turning undiscovered NFL talents into valuable players than the emergence of Hall of Fame running back Terrell Davis in Mike’s tenure with the Denver Broncos. Davis went from being a sixth-round draft pick to having one of the greatest peaks of any NFL rusher, which is an arc many others who have played under either Shanahan have attempted to follow.
Mostert ascended from a role as a speedy punt-coverage gunner who’d been cut by six teams into one of the league’s premier big-play threats in the league last season, but the 49ers didn’t need him to defeat New England because Wilson, Hasty and the offensive line controlled the game on the ground.
A rushing attack led by a pair of unheralded backs with limited NFL experience helped the 49ers hand the Patriots their worst home loss in Foxborough during Bill Belichick’s tenure as head coach. The win showcased the 49ers’ resilience, but Shanahan could now be tasked with determining ways to offset the losses of Wilson and leading wide receiver Deebo Samuel, who left Sunday’s game in the fourth quarter with a hamstring injury.
The 49ers’ schedule doesn’t get any easier as they travel to Seattle to face the Seahawks next weekend before hosting the Green Bay Packers on “Thursday Night Football” on Nov. 5, and it seems Shanahan’s job won’t be easier either.
The 49ers’ head coach has proven he’s an offensive mastermind and the rushing scheme he patterns after the one his father clearly doesn’t need star power to be effective, but it’s ultimately players seizing opportunities who make the system work.
With Mostert, Coleman and Wilson now down, Shanahan is running out of potential diamonds to find. Whether he’s able to pluck another and how quickly the team’s top backs are able to return could determine the 49ers’ fate.
