SANTA CLARA — Off to a 3-0 start in their seventh season together, coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch are also the proud owners of contract extensions.
The 49ers announced Friday they’ve extended the pair once again. Shanahan and Lynch are currently working under contracts they got in the summer of 2020 after reaching the Super Bowl.
Terms were not disclosed other than they are “multi-year” extensions, and it’s believed handshake agreements were in place last month, but the news was announced some 30 minutes after Shanahan concluded a media conference call to discuss Thursday night’s 30-12, home-opening win over the New York Giants. No statements were issued by Shanahan, Lynch or the York-family ownership.
Winning a 13th straight regular-season game has the 49ers two shy of their franchise record. It’s the longest active streak in the NFL. And never mind that it skips over their NFC Championship Game disaster in Philadelphia.
Are they in the same groove as last season, or specifically when they won 10 consecutive games before entering the playoffs?
“I feel like we’re close. We finished last season on a roll. We got in a groove,” Shanahan said. “I don’t think we’re totally there yet. We can clean a number of things up.”
Shanahan, 43, is already one of the longest-tenured coaches in 49ers’ history, ranking fifth behindy Bill Walsh (1979-87), Buck Shaw (1946-54), Dick Nolan (1968-75) and George Seifert (1989-96).
Shanahan is 55-46 in regular-season action, including a 45-24 record after his first two seasons. His six playoff wins trail only the 10 apiece by Walsh and Seifert, both of whom delivered Super Bowl wins, the last of which came 29 years ago in the 1994 season.
In June 2020, Shanahan received an extension that ran through 2025, although an option is believed to have existed for 2026. A month after Shanahan’s deal, Lynch was extended through 2025. Last year, their successful partnership was threatened when Amazon’s Prime Video tried to lure Lynch back into the broadcast booth. Lynch, 51, had worked as a Fox Sports announcer after his Pro Football Hall of Fame career ended in 2008.
Neither Lynch nor Shanahan was made available for comment on Friday’s news, though they had addressed the state of the franchise when training camp opened two months ago.
“We’re a team that has a chance with the way we’re constructed, the way we’re coached, the character in that locker room, the talent in that locker room,” Lynch said. “Now it’s our players’ jobs to take that ownership. It’s all of our jobs to give it our best shot. We do have a chance and I think we have a really good one. I like this group as it’s constructed and there’s a lot to like. Now we have to go do it.”
Added Shanahan, on July 25: “Really since Year 3 (in 2019), I felt we’ve been in that (championship-contention) position every year, and we feel no different this year.”
Wide receiver Deebo Samuel did not fracture any ribs on a fourth-quarter, 19-yard catch-and-run, Shanahan said. Samuel returned that same drive and finished it with a 27-yard touchdown catch for the 30-12 final margin.
The only other injuries Shanahan reported were low-ankle sprains to linebackers Dre Greenlaw and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles. Those injuries, along with Samuel’s, are “day-to-day” issues rather than long-term concerns.
Greenlaw’s unnecessary roughness penalties in back-to-back games have not hurt Shanahan’s admiration of him. “I love how Greenlaw plays. He plays as aggressive as you can without breaking any rules,” Shanahan said. “Both of these the last two weeks were as close as they could get.”
Sunday’s penalty at the Rams appeared to stem from after-the-whistle chatter, whereas Thursday night’s came after Greenlaw delivered a hit on wide receiver Darius Slayton while he was being tackled by Charvarius Ward near the sideline in the fourth quarter.
“From what I’ve seen, it could have gone either way. I’m going to be curious to see their answer on that from the league,” Shanahan said. “I didn’t think either of them was too bad. When guys cross the line and we’re making stupid penalties, that’s something always addressed. We haven’t had an issue with that. We’ve gotten very few throughout these years.”
Greenlaw has drawn six unnecessary roughness calls since the 2021 regular-season finale, plus a disqualification last season for his helmet-to-helmet hit on Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert.
NFL rushing leader Christian McCaffrey played just 61 percent of Thursday’s offensive snaps (51-of-83) after taking all of them in Sunday’s win over the Rams. Elijah Mitchell, idle the previous game, had 28 snaps, and Jordan Mason finished things off with four carries.
“This was a little more of what we expect,” Shanahan said of the rushers’ usage. “Each game will be different. I was happy how yesterday went.”
McCaffrey has run for a league-high 353 yards, including 85 on 18 carries against the Giants. He scored a rushing touchdown for a third straight game, and he matched Jerry Rice’s franchise record by scoring in 12 consecutive regular-season games. McCaffrey also had 34 receiving yards and again showed off a stiff-arm ability that impressed Shanahan.
“It’s pretty good, man. Can’t think of anyone with a better one,” Shanahan said. “Christian is at the top in almost every category. He does everything pretty damn good.”
With Brandon Aiyuk (shoulder) missing his first game since 2020, Shanahan’s plan was to split reps between Ray-Ray McCloud and Ronnie Bell opposite Samuel. McCloud finished with 38 snaps while Bell had 31. Jauan Jennings also had 31.
A five-man pass rush continues to spark the 49ers’ defense, whether it’s Javon Kinlaw joining the starting front or linebacker Fred Warner coming on a blitz up the middle, although other defensive backs and linebackers occasionally have taken turns, too.
“Anytime you can get five pass rushers in there who are all effective it’s great,” Shanahan said.
One such play came on the Giants’ first third-down attempt after halftime, when Daniel Jones got pressured out of the pocket and threw the ball out of bounds after being pursued by Kinlaw, Arik Armstead, Javon Hargrave, Drake Jackson and Nick Bosa.
Bosa and Hargrave accounted for the 49ers’ sacks on first-half plays. Kinlaw is drawing big reviews, with Shanahan saying it’s the healthiest he has seen their 2020 top draft pick, and that traces to his offseason work. Kinlaw played 19 snaps Thursday night while Bosa chalked up 39, Armstead 36 and Hargrave 34.