Taking up the defensive coordinator position for the 49ers was always going to come with immense pressure for Steve Wilks.
Jose Luis Sanchez III
Taking up the defensive coordinator position was always going to come with immense pressure for Steve Wilks.
The 49ers defense has been the anchor of the team since 2019 and one of the best units in the league. He’s also the first outside hire the 49ers have made at defensive coordinator, so there was not going to be much room for error if any drop off was felt.
Well, there has definitely been some hefty drop off in the last two games for the 49ers that factored into losses. And because of that, criticism has been unleashed endlessly against him which has only increased the pressure on his shoulders. The fact that he is being moved from the booth to the sidelines would indicate his seat his warm.
However, Wilks won’t fold under pressure from criticism and his role.
“I can honestly say I’m sort of built for this,” said Wilks. “Not in an arrogant way, but I’ve always believed, it’s two things, it’s what you hear and what you listen to. So, I hear a lot of the outside noise. I don’t listen to it good or bad. I’ve been doing this for a while and I understand the emotions of this game and what we play at this level. I try not to be emotional. We’re five and three, the standard is so high here, right? We lost three in a row that everybody feels like the ceiling is collapsing on us.
“We’re in a good position. We need to turn it around. We’ve got a lot of football ahead of us. We want to start progressing, get better in November and start playing our best in December. I’ve seen this, I’ve been around this, I can take it. I’m the new guy in. It is what it is. I have confidence in myself. Most importantly I have confidence in those players and the coaches that we’re together and we’re going to come through this.”
The mental fortitude of Wilks cannot be doubted after that. He is not panicking, as opposed to Kyle Shanahan, with the defense. The defense has without a doubt been a problem in the last two games, but it hasn’t been THE problem for the 49ers and it is not solely on Wilks either. Should there be a sense of urgency? Absolutely. But to hit the panic button by moving him to the sidelines was revealing.
The funny part about all of this is if the defense goes out and looks great against the Jaguars, then the move to the sidelines will be cited as cause for it. In reality, the players started cleaning it up and Wilks finally went back to the basics of what has worked for the 49ers defense in the past.
