When Dre Greenlaw returned in Week 12, Shanahan asked his veterans how they could get that energy and motivation for 17 weeks. Rather than one game over halfway through the season.
The 49ers didn’t have many highs in 2024, but Week 12 vs. the Rams—when Dre Greenlaw came back—was one of them. The defense looked alive again.
And Kyle Shanahan noticed.
Kyle Shanahan sat down with The San Francisco Standard’s Tim Kawakami and laid it all out—Purdy’s contract, how the roster had to shift as early as 2023, and why Week 12 bugged him. That was the game where Dre Greenlaw came back, and the energy was different because of it. Shanahan noticed, and he wasn’t thrilled it took that long:
I had a meeting at my house where I had all the vets over at OTAs. That (the Rams game) was one of the games that bothered me. Everyone knows how much I love Dre Greenlaw on our team. I think the media does, fans, but the team definitely knows. I love Dre. I think he’s one of the best linebackers I’ve ever seen.
And I asked all our guys, what our best game is, and all of them say the Rams.
[telling this to ] My daughter and my wife, “wow that looks like it from the stands.”
Dre Greenlaw played a quarter and a half that game. Why did everyone else play so much better? Because Dre is that good. I know everyone knows that, but one guy can’t make everyone that much better. But the other 10 of you played that much better.
And I said to Bosa, I said to these guys, I said, “In my opinion, it’s because—and I feel the same way—we were all motivated more because Dre is out there. How the hell, how can we be motivated more? Aren’t we always motivated as much as we can be? That’s the M.O. of who we are. We’re always this same. We always go hard. We don’t just go hard—oh Dre’s out there? We have a chance this week—that’s not who we are. And even though I loved how he looked that game, that was a sign to me, to the veterans, to myself, to everyone that, that’s not right. I want that young youth that we don’t give a damn about anything. We feel that way no matter what. And we can turn it up now that Greenlaw’s out there? It’s always turned up. And if we can’t find that back guys, if you you guys can’t find that back as veterans me as a coach, you’re all out, me included. And that’s to me the reality of that.
Without Dre Greenlaw to start the 2024 season, you knew the 49ers wouldn’t have their full potential on defense. If you watched the 49ers past Week 2, it was apparent something was very wrong, and it wasn’t just Greenlaw’s absence. Sure, Week 1 against the New York Jets of all teams looked like a breath of fresh air, but when you get the Minnesota Vikings in Week 2 and a combination of bad play calls and poor execution, something indicates we’re in for a long season, either with or without Greenlaw.
But that Week 12 game showed a different defense all year, even if the 49ers lost. Or asked a good question: Why was Dre Greenlaw’s return that much better for the 49ers?
The big “just wait” for the 49ers in the first few weeks of the nightmare 2024 season was how atrocious the run game was. One of the things I saw was how Dre Greenlaw’s absence could be a reason for why teams were running all over the 49ers. True, Dre Greenlaw was typically the one who punished any poor running back finding a way past the defensive line.
But anyone who watched that season will tell you, something was off with the defense. It looked downright sluggish.
One example is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game, in which the 49ers had a three-point lead and under two minutes to go, with the Bucs taking the ball on their (Buccaneers) 25-ish yard line. Bad tackling on a fourth-and-7 became a first down. And it was plays like that on repeat. Later downs led to penalties giving the Buccaneers yards and life to kick a field goal.
Yes, Jake Moody made the walk-off field goal to win the game (after missing three field goals in putting the 49ers in that position to begin with), but the defense was lethargic to say the least. And yes, there were injuries, but you can’t know that watching the first converted fourth down, where Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield somehow gets a seven-yard pass (at the line to gain, no less), with Nick Bosa of all people draped on him, the 49ers defense was definitely missing some oomph.
Another good example is the second Seattle Seahawks game. Dre Greenlaw helps, but do you really need Dre Greenlaw to be motivated enough to stop Geno Smith from a 12-yard scamper that wins the game? Again, just sluggish and unmotivated. Lack of effort is a strong word reserved for the Chase Youngs of the world, and not the word I’d use to describe the defense; ‘unmotivated and sluggish’ seems better.
Can the 49ers get that fire back? Let’s see what Robert Saleh has planned. If anyone can fix the edge this defense lost, it’s the guy who needs his own human guard rail to keep him from getting too far on the field. Then again, the guys in that locker room will need to contribute, and if they can’t bring 2024 Week 12 energy in Week 1 of 2025, it won’t matter who’s calling plays.