Head Coach Sean McVay–October 19, 2020

(On his message to the team after yesterday’s game and what it takes to bounce back following the loss from San Francisco)
“I mean, number one, you always look at the tape, that’s where the truth lies. We correct that. We have accountability and ownership for where we can all be better, coaches and players alike. We address those issues and we move forward, that’s what you have to be able to do. We always talk about not allowing the previous setback to affect the ability to move forward and we can’t wait to get going on our preparation for the Bears. What a good team we have and what they have, we’re excited about that. I don’t believe that last night is reflective of the caliber that we can play at, really on all three phases. I think we have some representative tape to be able to point that out. But, you know, that’s why it’s such a slim and small margin for error. You give the Niners credit, they did a nice job. That’s what’s so great about this league is, you get those three and a half, four-hour windows and you have to be great in those moments. And that’s a great opportunity for us to respond next week.”

(On what has attributed to the slow starts on defense and the sharp adjustments at halftime)
“I don’t know that it’s always been slow starts. I think, again, they did some good stuff. I think you look at even the second play of the game, it was one of those deals where (he) kind of just, fortunately, landed right on top of everybody. I think everybody was kind of lulled to sleep on that one and then he pops up and (49ers WR Deebo) Samuel runs for 35 yards. So, they did some good things. I thought we made some adjustments and settled in and I thought our second-half play definitely gave us a chance to win that football game. And ultimately, we didn’t get it done.”

(On how he walks the line of not panicking but continuing to re-establish some of the fundamental values that they hope to achieve week to week)
“Yeah, it’s just consistency. You know, coaching isn’t criticizing, it’s correcting and collaborating with these guys and that’s what we try to do week in and week out. We want to be consistent with the things that we’re preaching and one of the things that we talk about is making sure that we’re all holding each other to a standard of doing our job to the highest level, and that includes me. You know, I have to do a much better job, so that’s coaches and players together, but we try to keep a consistent team and a consistent approach. Every single week, whether we win or lose, we’re looking at that film the same way we’re making corrections; we’re making adjustments and we inevitably have to be able to move on to the next opponent as well. And so, the difference between when you end up getting that done and when you don’t, you wake up with a pit in your stomach, and the only way I know how to get rid of that thing is just to work a little bit better and make sure that you address the things that you can do better moving forward. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do. It’s simple, but it’s true.”

(On if he believes the majority of the adjustments are fixable through coaching rather than personnel changes)
“Again, you know, the other team has a say as well. And so, we have fundamentals, principles, and things that we want to emphasize and want to be able to see it reflected on our tape week in and week out, but the enemy does have a say as well. You give credit, the Niners did a nice job, but the thing that I do genuinely believe is when you look at, ‘Okay, where did we fall short, are these things we’re capable of doing, or are we just physically outmatched?’ No, we’re capable of executing and playing better football, being a cleaner operation, offensively not jumping offsides, throwing and catching better, being able to handle different things, really in all three phases and that’s really what I mean by that. Then, there’s going to be times too where, you’re saying, ‘Hey, that’s a great play by a great player.’ And we want to be better there, but you know, you give them some credit. So yesterday was a – you don’t want to minimize, the Niners did a nice job, but I think in a lot of instances, specifically on the offensive side of the ball, there’s things that we’re capable of playing at a much higher level and we expect to.”

(On if there were any injuries coming from Sunday’s game)
“No, we actually came out pretty clean. You know, guys had their typical bumps and bruises, but nothing really of a major concern for us.”

(On if RB Cam Akers wasn’t utilized because of the game flow)
“Yeah, it was. When you really look at it, we had four drives in the first half. You have the five-play drive, then you go three-and-out. Then you have the touchdown drive and then we’re in a two-minute drive at the end of the half. So, you start the rotation over. (RB) Darrell (Henderson Jr.) gets going, has a couple of runs. We never even got Darrell in a chance to really get a rhythm. When he did have some good runs on that touchdown, you’re saying, ‘all right, he’s getting into a little bit of the flow of the game.’ (Running Backs Coach) Thomas (Brown) got him in that one play sequence where we went incompletion on the play-action pass and then we get (RB) Malcolm (Brown) in the game and then Darrell’s back up and he’s kind of getting some runs going. So, it was nothing that (RB) Cam (Akers) didn’t do. It was more of a result of us not really being able to establish the continuity, the rhythm that we’d like to be able to do off offensively, where you can activate a bunch of different things and be able to get some different guys touches. That was what that was reflective of like what we talked about yesterday.”

(On whether he has looked ahead to preparing for the Chicago Bears or still closing the book on San Francisco)
“Yeah, really, you just mentioned it. We’re kind of closing the book on the Niners game. Once I get done with this, will represent really the opportunity to really dive into the (Chicago) Bears. We’ve kind of gone over their personnel and things like that, but as far as really laying eyes on a lot of the tape, I haven’t gotten a chance to do that yet.”

(On preparing for Chicago’s defense)
“It’s going to be a great challenge. They’ve got a great rush. They’ve been really opportunistic, you see their playing really well on third downs and in the red area. It’s a lot of the personnel that they’ve had a lot of success with over the last couple of years. (Bears DE) Akeim Hicks has been playing well. Obviously, (OLB) Kahlil Mack and you look at (Bears S) Eddie Jackson and (Bears CB Kyle) Fuller on the back end. (Bears ILB) Roquan Smith on the second level. So, it’s going to be a tremendous challenge and we’ve got to do a great job of playing efficient and consistent really through all three downs.”

(On what San Francisco did to neutralize DL Aaron Donald)
“It was a lot of perimeter-type stuff, where you’re seeing a lot of those kind of flip plays to (49ers WR) Deebo Samuel. A lot of the toss actions. He (Donald) was definitely influencing the game, but in a lot of instances, he wasn’t necessarily at the point of attack and in some cases he’s on the backside. So, a lot of the concepts and different things that they were activating to minimize the impact you can have as an interior player, where they really stretched your edges in your second and third levels. That’s what last night entailed.”

(On his evaluation of K Samuel Sloman)
“We’ve said it week in and week out. Obviously, you want to not have to continue to talk about the missed extra points or some of the things. Did a nice job responding. Definitely want us to handle that last kickoff situation a little bit differently, where we’re trying to pin them deep when they’re set up for an onside return and you got a chance to pin them a little bit deeper than kicking it that deep into the end zone. That was not what we wanted. He’s got to improve.”

(On his evaluation of the performance of the inside linebacker group)
“I think those guys played tough, but I think it was a difficult game where they were stretched laterally and there was a lot of stress on some of the concepts that (49ers Head Coach) Kyle (Shanahan) was running. (ILB) Micah (Kiser) came back and (ILB) Kenny (Young), those guys played tough, but we think they can play better than what they did. I think when you look at the missed tackles, there was a lot of unfortunate ones that occurred in some major down-and-distances, specifically some third downs, where one on (WR) Trent Taylor and the one on (TE George) Kittle where they’re kind of catching a check down and they were able to create afterwards, that ends up giving them a fresh set of downs. I look at the second play, that was kind of a freaky-type play. I didn’t necessarily see that as much of a missed tackle, as he’s tackled and kind of lands right on top of somebody, so he never technically goes down, but it’s a good reminder for us, where we’ve got to just ensure that, ‘Hey, everybody’s all the way down,’ so you don’t give up a play that’s probably going to go for three to four yards for 35 yards. Each play is its own entity, but I thought those ones on the third down were extremely costly.”

(On Defensive Coordinator Brandon Staley’s ability to make adjustments)
“I think he does a great job first collaborating with the coaching staff, talking through the things that they’re seeing, how we want to be able to adjust or how we can just play it better if we don’t necessarily need to adjust and then each of the position coaches, based on that dialogue that (Defensive Coordinator) Brandon (Staley) and the staff have, get that communicated to their players. That’s really a reflection of Brandon and the defensive coaching staff and the players being receptive to it. So, that’s been a real positive for us in all of our games. It’s given us a chance to win, both the games that we haven’t come through on, based on the way that the defense has performed in the second half, especially. Those are things that we’ll want to continue to see and I think it’s going to be a real positive for this football team as we continue to get through and play more and more games.”

(On how the running back rotation works)
“It’s usually by the situation. So, usually you see Malcolm play in some of those more known-passing situations, second down and long, third downs and then Darrell is getting the majority of the work and some of the normal down in distances. That doesn’t mean Malcolm doesn’t ever play then, but that’s typically kind of how we’ve rotated them. But I think as we get comfortable with all those guys, it won’t necessarily have to be as specific to the situation, but that’s what last night’s game was reflective of.”

(On if in the future, the running back rotation will be open to more in-game flexibility)
“Yeah. I think so. I mean, Malcolm can play in all situations. He’s got such a good command on what’s going on and some of those other protection-possible situations, where teams are likely to activate some different pressures when you’re in a lot more of an all right, it’s a high percentage pass situation here, as opposed to when you’re in some of those earlier downs and you want to have some balance between the run and the pass. So that’s why you’ve seen Malcolm playing a little bit more of those situations, but as Darrell and really as Cam continue to accumulate experience, I think the comfort and confidence level for those guys to play on all those downs and all those situations will enable us to be a little bit more versatile with how we activate all three.”

(On what has factored to WR Van Jefferson’s limited use on Sunday)
“Just the flow of the game. It’s difficult to get guys in. (WR) Josh (Reynolds) has done some good things. I think we’re still really, kind of, continuing to find out what is the perfect balance of using our personnel and getting some of these younger skill players going, who we know have extremely bright futures with us, with Cam and (WR) Van (Jefferson) and how many snaps they get. So much of it is by the flow of the game and I think what you’ve seen is, when we’re not able to really get into a good rhythm offensively, or we’ve got minimal snaps, it’s affected those guys and those are the things that we’ve got to continue to figure out and work through, because they shouldn’t have to be punished for that.”