The 49ers, despite their onslaught of injuries throughout the 2025 NFL season, finished just two wins shy of a Super Bowl LX appearance in their own stadium.
San Francisco, perhaps even before the season, and most certainly during it, outperformed just about everyone’s expectations in a year that many believed would be a transitional phase for the organization after having to part ways with numerous key players last spring.
However, the depleted 49ers rallied throughout the season and made it all the way to the NFC divisional playoff round, where they were blown out by their division rival, and eventual Super Bowl champion, Seattle Seahawks.
So where does San Francisco need to improve next season in order to return to its Super Bowl form? Coach Kyle Shanahan identified areas both on offense and defense in an interview alongside general manager John Lynch on the latest episode of the “Tom Tolbert Show.”
“I think we need to be better on defense all-around in terms of, we got fortunate last year, we didn’t play a ton of quarterbacks, so I think that helped us not get as exposed,” Shanahan explained. “But we went in a little light, just because of losing guys in free agency and stuff. I knew we were going in light, but I didn’t know we would lose [Nick] Bosa and Fred [Warner] and things like that. Doing that, [while being light on depth] made it really tough.
“I think [former defensive coordinator Robert Saleh] did a great job, I think our guys rose to the challenge and did a great job, but we weren’t good enough. And I think what we’ve done in free agency, what we’ve done in the draft, the guys that did get all this experience last year who are better now, bringing [new defensive coordinator Raheem Morris], I think that will be the challenge, to be that much better. Not just in the run, but everywhere.”
The 49ers, by most metrics, were a decent — but not great — offensive team last season.
San Francisco was seventh in the NFL in yards per game (351.4), fifth in total passing yards (4,157) and 10th in total points (437). But as Shanahan points out, the team was not very efficient in one area his offenses usually excel at.
“And then on offense, we were an efficient offense, we were a top-five offense,” Shanahan said. “But we need to make more plays. We need to be more explosive, this was the least amount of explosive plays that we’ve had in our tenure here. Especially in the run game, it was the worst we had done in the run game.
“Yeah, we could be a top-five offense, but if you want to be an offense that’s capable of beating really good defenses, which we have one of the best in our division — and possibly two with the Rams — but Seattle was right there. If you can’t run the ball at least a top-10 level, I don’t care how efficient or how good you are at throwing, they’re going to get you. The defenses are too good.”
Success on the ground has been Shanahan’s forte for many years, but last season, even with a healthy Christian McCaffrey, the 49ers were 24th in total rushing yards (1,817) and rushing yards per game (106.9).
The 49ers, despite their shortcomings on both sides of the ball, still won 12 games in the regular season and went on to defeat the defending-champion Philadelphia Eagles in the first round of the NFL playoffs.
But they just didn’t have enough to be a true Super Bowl contender, which became painfully clear in their final game of the season.
“So if we can get more explosive on offense and get better all-around on defense, those are requirements for us,” Shanahan concluded.
Have the 49ers done enough this offseason to get back to Super Bowl contention?