Robert Saleh and the 49ers have some unfinished business to complete.
It took some time and the saga had many twists and turns, but the San Francisco 49ers were able to reunite with defensive coordinator Robert Saleh. He now has the chance to finish what he started with head coach Kyle Shanahan.
Many fans were understandably thrilled with Saleh’s return. After the last two seasons when the defense was lackluster, a nostalgic hire like this that reminds fans of happier days when the defense was stronger.
However, as our own John Porter pointed out, the 2019 season when San Francisco lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl was really the only season in which the Niners had an elite defense under Saleh.
Of course, one could argue that 2017 and 2018 were building years as Saleh was still gaining his footing and trying to implement a new scheme. Plus, the 2020 season was injury-riddled with defensive lineman Nick Bosa tearing his ACL early in the season.
Yet, Saleh did still lay the baseline down for what the team’s defense would look like. It was the same defense that the Niners ran under Saleh’s successor, defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans, when the defense was solid in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
The Niners still ran the same defense the past two seasons under defensive coordinators Steve Wilks and Nick Sorensen. Wilks came from outside the system, which made it a bit of an adjustment to get him to adapt to a system he was unfamiliar with. Sorensen came from within the system but may have been a bit out of his depth calling plays for a defense.
Yet, as 49ers beat reporters Matt Maiocco and Jennifer Lee Chan pointed out on a recent episode of the 49ers Talk podcast, Saleh brings with him an energy and enthusiasm that was lacking under the last two coordinators.
Perhaps the team’s defense needs that extra spark to get them back on track.
Shanahan and Saleh are both the architects for what the 49ers currently do with Shanahan being the mastermind on offense and Saleh on defense. The two men came heartbreakingly close to winning a Super Bowl in the 2019 season, and now they have a prime opportunity to finish the work they began back in 2017.
It will not be easy and there will surely be bumps in the road, but the Saleh hire has given the fanbase, and likely the locker room, a shift in vibes after the trainwreck that was the 2024 season.
Sometimes that is all that is needed to get a team’s mojo back.
