The San Francisco 49ers came up short against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 58. It took overtime, but when the dust settled, Kansas City had beaten San Francisco 25-22. Only three days later, and coincidentally during the Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade, news broke that the 49ers were parting ways with defensive coordinator Steve Wilks.
If your first thought reading that piece of news was that it was surprising, you aren’t alone. Wilks was in his first season with the 49ers as their DC after spending 2022 as the defensive passing game coordinator and then interim head coach for the Carolina Panthers. The general feeling was that Wilks was worthy of the Panthers’ head coach opening, but they went in a different direction, hiring Frank Reich, and Wilks wound up with San Francisco.
The 49ers defense was one of the best units in the league. Yes, they were talented and got even stronger after acquiring Chase Young ahead of the trade deadline. That doesn’t lessen the importance that Wilks had with the team. The Niners allowed the third-fewest points per game (17.5), eighth-fewest yards per game (303.9) and the third-fewest rushing yards in the league. They complemented their offense very well and often would step up in games where the offense struggled.
Was parting ways with Wilks the right move? For now, no. Obviously only time will tell if the next defensive coordinator will be able to have more success than Wilks did. But, San Francisco played three playoff games and kept every game close. The Niners only gave up 19 points in regular to the back-to-back Super Bowl champs. Since San Francisco lost, head coach Kyle Shanahan has been told he can’t win the big game, and the immediate reaction from this move is that Shanahan felt like he had to do something, couldn’t blame himself, and Wilks became the fall guy.
Potential DC Replacements for Wilks
Mike Vrabel
The former Tennessee Titans head coach went without a job offer in this season’s head coaching circuit. Vrabel is a defensive-minded coach who was the Houston Texans linebackers coach from 2014-2016 and the team’s defensive coordinator in 2017. He was the Titans’ head coach for the last six seasons. Vrabel seems like an obvious choice and it would give him an opportunity to be a coordinator again for at least a year before next season’s head coaching cycle.
Brandon Staley
Staley got the Los Angeles Chargers head coaching job in 2021 due to his work improving defenses. He helped the outside linebackers for the Chicago Bears get better between 2017 and 2018 before taking the same role with the Denver Broncos. After leading the Los Angeles Rams defense as their coordinator in 2020 and impressed enough to get brought on as the head coach for the Chargers. It may feel like too soon of a move for how his tenure in Los Angeles ended, but Staley could get another shot at being a DC with San Francisco.
Bill Belichick
The Wilks removal was a bit of a surprise, as was the parting of ways between the New England Patriots and Belichick. He had been the head coach of the team for over two decades, and it was weird seeing that come to an end. After being heavily linked to the open Atlanta Falcons head coaching job, Belichick remains in limbo after Atlanta pivoted and went with Raheem Morris. The veteran head coach was then linked to some college openings but hasn’t taken any at the time of this writing. Belichick would get a chance to focus on the defense purely and if you truly think that Wilks’ defense wasn’t good enough, you arguably can’t do much better than replacing him with Belichick.
Nick Sorensen
If you don’t recognize the name, don’t worry. He would be an internal candidate to keep an eye on as he spent last season as San Francisco’s defensive pass game coordinator and nickels coach. Sorensen was a defensive assistant for the team in 2022. Despite only two years with the organization, he could get his biggest promotion yet as the team’s defensive coordinator to run the defense that Shanahan wants to run.