He doesn’t deserve all the blame for what happened to the San Francisco 49ers in 2024.But special teams coordinator Brian Schneider should receive a good deal of it, especially after his unit put forth one of the more embarrassing performances in recent memory over the course of the season.
The day after the Niners concluded the regular season with a disappointing 6-11 record and last-place finish within the NFC West, ESPN’s Nick Wagoner reported head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. were relieving Schneider of his duties:
SchneiderĀ originally joined Shanahan’s staff in 2022Ā after a lengthy stint with the Seattle Seahawks. Yet the hope of turning San Francisco’s special teams unit from a weakness into a strength never truly materialized.
And, in some ways, he winds up being the perfect scapegoat for the 49ers’ problems over the course of 2024.
Fair or not, Brian Schneider will take plenty of blame for 49ers’ 2024 problems
Again, there were many pieces to the problem puzzle the Niners boasted. Quarterback Brock Purdy regressed, running back Christian McCaffrey was out for most of the year, the defense was inconsistent and injuries ravaged San Francisco all year long.
But, few issues stood out more than special teams.
Kyle Posey of Niners Nation summed up justĀ how poorly this unit performedĀ over the course of 2024:
“The 49ers finished 31st overall in special teams DVOA. They had the second-worst kick return team, fourth-worst field goal and punt units, and fifth-worst kickoff coverage team. The ābestā special teams unit they had was the punt return team. The Niners finished 10th-worst there.”
That doesn’t even mention the struggles second-yearĀ kicker Jake Moody went through, which resulted in a field-goal success rate a shade over 70 percent on the year.
Schneider might not have had much direct control over that, but it does highlight the point of how bad special teams was.
A problem, however, is that special teams fluctuates so much year after year. Generally comprised of backups and bottom-of-the-roster players, it’s hard to maintain much consistency on special teams given the nature of turnover at these portions of the depth chart.
That said, Schneider wasn’t alone in having to deal with this, as 31 other teams experience the same sort of context.
Therefore, since it’s hard to pin special teams woes on any single player (Moody notwithstanding), one person has to receive the bulk of blame for the overlooked-but-vital third phase having so many issues.
And, if one grants that special teams was the “worst of the worst” among San Francisco’s many issues in 2024, it makes blaming Schneider an easy proposition.
He turned into an ideal scapegoat, deserved or not.
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