49ers gloom into offseason with many what ifs

The San Francisco 49ers season ended with a whimper.

This past Saturday the Seattle Seahawks ended San Francisco's season with a 41-6 bludgeoning in the NFC Divisional Playoffs up in the Pacific Northwest. From start to finish it was all Seahawks, the NFC's number one seed and host of the NFC Championship game against the Los Angeles Rams. On the opening kickoff Rasheed Shaheed ran it back 95 yards for a touchdown and it only got WORSE from there.

San Francisco's opening possession ended on a 4th and 2 play that at best was a head scratcher by head coach Kyle Shanahan and at worst was one of the dumbest plays he has called during his tenure with the 49ers. Originally the play was supposed to be a pass that was completed but it was negated as Seattle called timeout before quarterback Brock Purdy could hike the ball. The next play was a read option to fullback Kyle Juszczyk that the Seahawks defense sniffed out right away and ended with a failed toss to Christian McCaffery where the ball was fumbled out of bounds that resulted in a loss of downs.

Everything that could have went wrong for San Francisco did. There were turnovers on the offensive side of the ball, Kenneth Walker III couldn't be stopped as he ran right down the throat of the depleted 49ers defense and ended up with three rushing touchdowns on the night. Overall, the team wasn't prepared to go into the hostile environment of Lumen Field, and the season came an abysmal crashing end.

Despite the bow out in the Divisional round of the playoffs, San Francisco had a very successful season considering the catastrophic injuries it sustained with Nick Bosa, Fred Warner (who had hoped to return back to the lineup had the Niners made it to the NFC Championship), Mykel Williams, and lastly tight end George Kittle who suffered an Achilles tear the week before in the Wild Card round against the Philadelphia Eagles. Others like Ricky Pearsall, Bryce Huff, Dee Winters all suffered injuries throughout the season and were never 100 percent.

The team went 12-5 and were two wins away from hosting Super Bowl 60 in its own stadium. One could argue that Shanahan deserves to be voted Coach of the Year for overcoming the most adversity he has had to face during his entire head coaching career. You would have a valid argument as he accomplished so much in 2025 with having so little at his expense. But during the season, it was difficult to get the rushing attack going despite having a healthy McCaffery in the lineup all 17 games.

Which leads to the many what ifs going to into the offseason. What if the team stayed healthy? What if GM John Lynch tried to get help on the defensive side of the field at the trade deadline? What if the offensive line had performed better? What if the Brandon Aiyuk drama didn't unfold. How would have the offense looked had Aiyuk was able to come back healthy and with a better attitude about wanting to play for the team?

Lynch and Shanahan are going to have a critical offseason if they want to keep the 49ers as a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Yesterday, defensive coordinator Robert Saleh accepted the head coach position for the Tennessee Titans, who finished tied for the worst record in the NFL along with three other teams. So once again San Francisco will be looking for a new DC to lead the defense.

Jauan Jennings and Pearsall are descent wide receivers, but they are not a legit number one. Does Lynch try to sign or trade for a number one wide receiver? With Kittle out for essentially the entire the 2026 season, what does he do at the tight end position, considering Kittle was the favorite target of Purdy. How does he improve an offensive line that is led by the injury prone Trent Williams? On the defensive side of the ball, would he trade for a Maxx Crosby type of pass rusher to pair up with Bosa and create one of the most feared defensive front fours in the league?

The 49ers don't have a lot of cap room with just under $35 million of space to sign top free agents. So, Lynch would have to fill the holes on the roster via trade. Don't expect the Niners to be flashy once the free agency period opens in mid-March. The upcoming draft will be an interesting one for San Francisco as they don't have as much capital as they have had in the past with just seven picks. However, Lynch has proven over the years the ability to gain draft picks and parlay those into getting players he desires.

Yesterday the 49ers had their final locker room availability. This is where the players pack up their belongings for the final time and head off to their destinations for the offseason. It was hard to determine the players mood and their feelings about the how confident they are about the upcoming season since this reporter was denied access to the availability by the media relations department. My fellow colleagues who were there reported there was a sense of optimism among the players they were able to interview. The sense was if they can come back healthy, with the exception of Kittle, they could once again compete with the Seahawks and Rams for the NFC West, which had three of the final four teams in the NFC.

The one thing you couldn't question was the heart of this team and the next man up mentality they had. However, heart can only take you so far as the 49ers were exposed against good teams this season and were able to get away with their injuries against a soft schedule. While they won't be the ones playing at Levi's Stadium on Sunday February 8th, the hope is that with health and some good luck, San Francisco can have championship aspirations in 2026.