Kyle Shanahan on all-out blitz: I should have called a timeout

One of the most remarkable moments of the season so far came Monday night, when the 49ers mounted a seven-man blitz late in the first half against the Vikings. Although the play nearly resulted in an interception by cornerback Charvarius Ward, Vikings receiver Jordan Addison took the ball away from Ward and scored a 60-yard touchdown.

It was recognized from the beginning that an attack should not be called. There was little to gain, and much to lose at that moment. Chris Sims and me I spent some time talking about that During Tuesday BFT Live.

But the situation has raised other questions, including the line between delegation and abdication by the head coach. Offensive coaches often turn the keys over the defense to the coordinator, outsourcing all calls entirely to the defensive coach.

Others dismissed our question as to whether, in such a situation, the head coach was the coach He has the kill switch It can prevent the defensive coordinator from moving forward with a bad play.

On Wednesday, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan He blamed the public On defensive coordinator Steve Wilkes, and he didn’t take any of it for himself. Thursday, Wilkes Admit it was a mistake. To his credit, Shanahan made it clear on Friday that: (1) he is ultimately responsible; and (2) he should have asked for time to prevent the attack from occurring.

“There was a timing issue to us not being able to make that decision, that’s without a doubt to me,” Shanahan told reporters. “I’m the one who can stop it and that’s why I take ultimate responsibility for everything. But when I was asked two days ago about the call, he knew we couldn’t cancel that time and I made the mistake of not calling the deadline so we couldn’t call her. But I didn’t have any “Problem with the call in terms of what we’re doing. I like all-out attack. It’s not something you can do at the time.”

So this solves it. The head coach remains accountable, even when he delegates responsibility for calling the defensive play. And a head coach has the power to stop a bad game from happening – assuming he has at least one deadline left to do so.