re: 49ers Fire DC Steve Wilks after one season

From some reporting I found:

Shanahan and Wilks have butted heads philosophically all year long. At the root of Shanahan’s and Wilks’ disconnect was Wilks’ preference for 3-4 schemes though he was hired to operate Shanahan’s preferred wide-9 4-3 defense. Shanahan knew this when he hired Wilks, though. During a midseason losing streak, Wilks acknowledged the difficulty of operating an alternative scheme after doing his own thing for nearly two decades.

Wilks preferred to blitz at a significantly higher rate, which Shanahan called him out on during a Week 7 loss to the Vikings. Wilks’ zero blitz with 16 seconds left resulted in a last-second touchdown which drew Shanahan’s ire. That has been cited multiple times as a prime example of the divide.

Wilks preferred to call plays from the booth, unlike his predecessors, and was moved to the sidelines, but the run defense was his glaring chink in his armor after it plummeted from second in the league in 2022 to 26th. That same run defense was shellacked in the first half of their comeback NFC Championship win.