Kyle Shanahan urges 49ers to keep tabs on teammates' mental health amid lengthy road trip

The San Francisco 49ers and Stanford Cardinal are two football teams spending extra time away from home this holiday season due to a Santa Clara County health order that has temporarily banned team contact sports because of rising COVID-19 cases in the area through at least Dec. 21. 

San Francisco won at the Los Angeles Rams last Sunday and will now "host" the Buffalo Bills this coming Monday night and the Washington Football Team on Dec. 13 at State Farm Stadium, home of the division rival Arizona Cardinals. The 49ers will then play at the Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 20 and be the road team versus the Cardinals on Dec. 26. 

49ers coach Kyle Shanahan knows that's a daunting task even for well-paid professionals, and he spoke to his players about looking out for each other. 

"I just try to tell everyone, no matter what, when someone has a problem, whatever it is, there's no problem too big or too small," Shanahan said during Thursday's media call, per Grant Gordon of the league's official website. 

"A lot of guys keep that stuff internally, but I met with a bunch of the players and I grabbed about 20 of them last night and just told them to look out for that stuff and make sure that whether they come to me, a position coach, we have lots of people here who aren't coaches or players who can help people. So, it's just understanding that it's human nature. Some stuff's going to come up over the next three weeks and no one ignore it. Just always bring it to someone's attention because the worst thing you could be in these situations is feel kind of alone on an island and we've got a big group going through it, so we can rally together and make sure we help each other through it."

Shanahan continued: 

"I just try to stress to people is everyone's going to be at different levels and some people are going to deal with this different than others. Someone who hits that wall, whatever it is, you read about the NBA players in the bubble and all the mental issues they went through and stuff. Those guys were at least allowed to hang with each other. We're not, so we're basically just in rooms here. Haven't seen the guys except when we Zoom meet them and then when we go out to the field for walkthrough, so it's not like we're in a bubble hanging out. So, those things will build up on guys and each guy will handle it differently."

The 23-20 victory over Los Angeles improved the Niners to 5-6 overall. They remain fourth in the NFC West standings, three games behind the first-place Seattle Seahawks (8-3). 

It's unknown if the 49ers will be allowed to host Seattle at Levi's Stadium on Jan. 3.