Will the 49ers Fire Kyle Shanahan if they Miss the Playoffs Next Year?

10 years ago, the 49ers gutted their roster AND fired head coach Jim Harbaugh in the same offseason.

This year, the 49ers have gutted their roster but haven't fired Kyle Shanahan. Does that mean they learned from the Harbaugh mistake? And is Shanahan on the hot seat?

In retrospect, firing Harbaugh and THEN gutting the roster set up the next two head coaches for failure. Jim Tomsula and Chip Kelly never had a chance, and Kyle Shanahan needed three years to build up the roster from practically scratch.

So when the 49ers decided they needed to rebuild their roster, they could have fired Kyle Shanahan. But they couldn't have hired a good head coach to replace him because they're rebuilding.

So now Shanahan has to stick around for the rebuild. He has to clean up the mess he made by trading three first-round picks plus a third for Trey Lance and insisting on signing Brandon Aiyuk for $30 million per season. And he has to win.

The 49ers are paying Shanahan $14 million per season -- more than any other head coach in North American sports who hasn't won a championship. If he's such a great head coach, if he's such a valuable commodity, he should be able to win with a young team. He should be able to coach up the rookies and second-year players like Sean McVay does with the Rams.

If the 49ers win a playoff game next season, Shanahan's job should be safe. But if he loses in the first round or fails to reach the playoffs entirely, he could get replaced and the 49ers could find someone better suited to coach a young team.