‘It was EMBARRASSING’: 49ers DC Steve Wilks takes aim at his defense for an ‘unacceptable’ performance in win over the Lions… as he calls on San Francisco to raise its game for Super Bowl showdown with the Chiefs

The San Francisco 49ers will focus on improving their defense before taking on the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl after an “embarrassing” showing in the NFC Championship game.

Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan and his staff noticed some issues with a lack of effort in a narrow 34-31 win over the Detroit Lions.

“As a team, I can tell you as a defense that it’s unacceptable,” defensive coordinator Steve Wilks said.via ESPN).

‘We talked about that. I wish I could tell these guys on play four, on play 27, that this is what’s going to happen. You do not know.

“So we have to make sure we play every down like this is going to be the difference in the ball game. And you could tell from those particular plays that it wasn’t up to our standard. Those guys understand and know that and honestly it was embarrassing.”

Shanahan said there were at least two plays that were “not our culture” of all-out, full-force football, which had been instilled by past defensive coordinators like Robert Saleh and DeMeco Ryans.

That hasn’t really been an issue all season, but it was against the Lions when the defense allowed 24 points and fell into a 17-point hole against Detroit.

Shanahan specifically highlighted poor chase defense on run plays — such as on Jahmyr Gibbs’ 15-yard touchdown run, where defensive end Chase Young was seen jogging on the running back before pulling back and racing into the end zone.

“They expected someone else to make the tackle,” Shanahan said. “Every time you expect someone else to make the tackle, bad things happen.”

San Francisco has had two close calls against the Green Bay Packers and the Lions, giving up an average of 26 points and 159 rushing yards. That’s significantly more than the average 89.7 rushing yards the team gave up during the regular season.

Because of their efforts, the leaders of the Niners defense have recognized that they need to improve.

“I’m just going to tell the guys that there’s a different level of effort, intensity and unselfishness that you have to achieve on every single shot that you take,” defensive end Nick Bosa said.

Nick Bosa said there has to be a “different level of effort, intensity and selflessness.”

Fred Warner, 54, said the team has ‘a great opportunity to correct their mistakes’

Linebacker Fred Warner echoed that sentiment, noting that he was “scarred for life” by the earlier loss to the Chiefs, while also touting the importance of playing with maximum energy for every minute of the final game of the season.

Middle linebacker Fred Warner said, “The standard has been what it has been as long as I’ve been here and we’ve relied heavily on winning games on defense, limiting teams to a minimum of points, suffocating teams, dictating how the game goes. to go based on how we go.”

“And that hasn’t been the case the last two games and that’s for a variety of reasons… But we have a great opportunity to correct that and make sure we deliver our best performance in the Super Bowl. I think that’s exactly where our mentality is.”