The 19th-century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer once said, “Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.”
That’s a fancy way of saying that a genius does more with less.
Right now, I’m not seeing much genius from 49ers head coach and offensive play-caller Kyle Shanahan.
Yes, the 49ers’ offense, like its defense, is all sorts of injured — down both starting tackles, a first-string quarterback, and its top tailback. But Shanahan’s offense still has excellent wide receivers, an elite tight end (at least in reputation), quality running backs, and a quarterback who started for the team for five years.
Shanahan is doing less with less, and if that doesn’t change, it will define San Francisco’s season, in this, a defining year for Shanahan as a head coach.
As an offensive coordinator, Shanahan took Washington to the playoffs, made the Cleveland Browns respectable for a season, and turned the 2016 Falcons into an all-time great offense with Matt Ryan winning NFL MVP.
But in six years as the 49ers’ head coach and offensive play-caller, Shanahan has had only one top-10 scoring offense. It came in 2019, when the 49ers went to the Super Bowl, and then collapsed.
After Sunday’s embarrassing 28-14 loss to the Falcons, it’s tough to see this being a Top 10 scoring offense.
Shanahan has retained his reputation as an “offensive genius” despite offenses that sputter more than drive, Perhaps it’s because so many former Shanahan assistants have taken over other teams and authored big organizational turnarounds with his outside-zone offensive system.
But that only means Shanahan’s on-time advantage over the rest of the league is dwindling.
And right now, it’s impossible to ignore the peeling at the edges of that “genius” label.
Sunday’s game is a worthwhile referendum point on Shanahan for two reasons:
The 49ers, even with its incredible injury list, are a more talented team than the Falcons.
Smith is working with an offense comprised of a journeyman quarterback, a no-name offensive line, practice-squad running backs, and two young and inconsistent receivers.
Yet that unit was able to ruthlessly execute on Sunday. Atlanta controlled the ball for most of the game, picking up steady if unspectacular gains on the ground and converting in the passing game on third-and-short situations. Atlanta quarterback Marcus Mariota — now on his third NFL team because of accuracy issues — didn’t throw an incompletion until the fourth quarter. He finished 13 of 14 with two touchdowns and ran for 50 yards and another touchdown.
It was a fine performance. But it was a winning performance only because the 49ers’ offense looked constipated.all game.
As Atlanta’s defense sold out to stop the Niners’ run game — leaving acres of space open in the pass game — the 49ers’ offense attempted only two throws outside the numbers on the field while attempting one-third of its passes at or behind the line of scrimmage.
You’d think Shanahan and Garoppolo — in their sixth season together — would have found a few downfield plays that the quarterback can execute in situations like Sunday’s.
But somehow, it consistently took five plays to set up one of the Niners’ six pass attempts over 15 yards in the game. Not one was completed — a byproduct of drops, inaccuracy, penalties, and predictable play calls.
Shanahan’s stubbornness as a play-caller was best exemplified by the team’s baffling 16-play, 80-yard drive that took more than eight minutes off the clock in the fourth quarter.
The Niners took possession at their 1 with 10:42 to play. Atlanta didn’t touch the ball until there was 2:34 remaining in the game.
It was a masterclass in protecting a two-touchdown lead.
The only problem: the Niners were down two touchdowns.
No awareness. No urgency. No creativity. As precious seconds dwindled, the Niners huddled, ran their same old plays — including runs that left the clock running, and did a lot of standing at the line of scrimmage.
The entire Bay area was yelling at the Niners to hurry up. Even the Falcons seemed surprised San Francisco was playing it so slow.
If I didn’t know better, I’d say that Shanahan was content to lose and was trying to hasten the proceedings by keeping the Niners at their regular tempo.
That was not the invisible target Schopenhauer was talking about.
Shanahan scripts the first 24 plays of every game and the first eight plays of the second half.
When he is on script, the Niners are pretty good. Sunday, the Niners ran 23 first-half plays and had two touchdowns.
But over the last few seasons, when Shanahan doesn’t have his cheat sheet and a lead, he has looked overmatched as a play-caller. This is especially true in big, stressful situations when time is a factor.
The Niners are yet to come from behind from anything more than a field-goal deficit going into the fourth quarter in Shanahan’s six years in charge, going 0-26 since the start of 2017, per the Associated Press.
San Francisco’s season isn’t over after Sunday’s loss. The NFC is weak this season, which keeps the 3-3 Niners in the thick of things with a lot of football to play.
But the loss in Atlanta did show all the reasons this team can’t be considered a true Super Bowl contender right now.
Injuries are No. 1. My goodness, the Niners are banged up, especially on defense.
But the next largest limitation is the team’s head coach and offensive play-caller and his strained relationships with his long-time quarterback and pragmatism.
Shanahan is supposed to be the solution, not the problem. And the longer that expectation is inverted — the longer the Niners’ top man is lacking any spark of genius — the worse things will get for San Francisco.
