Colin Cowherd calls for 49ers to strip some power off head coach Kyle Shanahan

If someone had told us the San Francisco 49ers would have just five wins heading into December after making a trip to the Super Bowl and giving Brandon Aiyuk a four-year, $120 million extension, we'd say they were crazy. But here we are.

The Niners are 5-7 with Week 14 set to kick off, and they will have to play out the rest of the year without the services of all of Brandon Aiyuk, Christian McCaffrey, and his backup Jordan Mason. How did we get here is a question Niners fans have been asking themselves frequently over the past few weeks as the 49ers' playoff chances are nowhere close to eliciting any semblance of hope.

One point that has been raised time and again is that the Niners were perhaps a little underprepared. A long season where they were playing right up until February left its toll on several players, and they didn't exactly draft with a long-term plan in mind.

Colin Cowherd made a similar point this week on his weekly show, urging the Niners brass to take some power off Shanahan's hands given the state of affairs.

“It hurt Bill O’Brien. It hurt Gruden. It hurt Belichick. I think it hurt Pete Carroll. Star coaches make three times what the general manager does. When these coaches get into these power situations, they get a lot of personnel say. I think Kyle is drafting players for the moment. They’ve neglected their O-line and their D-line," Cowherd said.

“I like Kyle Shanahan, but I look at their drafts and it feels like the coach has a little too much power."

Cowherd claimed the 49ers are currently spiraling out of control and even one big swing in the form of a big offseason move is unlikely to fix things.

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6x Pro Bowler echoes Colin Cowherd's sentiment on Kyle Shanahan

On Tuesday's episode of FS1's The Facility, former Eagles running back LeSean McCoy made his feelings clear over what he believed was a bit of complacency from Kyle Shanahan and 49ers GM John Lynch.

"Every year, they are either in the NFC Championship Game or in the Super Bowl. I think they got too complacent, where CMC [Christian McCaffrey] getting injured, there’s no real answer for him being injured. Brandon Aiyuk, instead of getting his deal done early in camp, having your number one route runner, thinking that we will get it done eventually," McCoy said.

Since McCaffrey's injury and Jordan Mason set to land on injured reserve, the Niners have picked former Jets running back Israel Abanikanda off waivers and signed former Bucs RB Ke'Shawn Vaughn to the practice squad.