49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan on Finishing the 2020 Season in Week 17
"I'm very happy the season's over. Once we were eliminated from the playoffs, we were ready to move on a little bit and get to next year. But we had to finish it and I was really proud of the guys today. I told them to hold their heads high. It wasn't a moral victory or anything because I believe we should have won the game. There were a couple of plays that we just needed to make at the end that we didn't and they did. And they were able to pull that off. So that was disappointing, but I'm so proud of our guys. They gave all they could in every opportunity that they had. I'm excited this year is over. And now it's time to figure out how to improve us."
Shanahan on Jeff Wilson Jr.'s 2020 Performance
"Honestly, I feel like Jeff's done the same thing every time we've asked him to. Even last year. We didn't ask him as much last year because there were a few guys ahead of him who were playing at a very high level. And at that we were a little more fortunate with injuries last year at the running back position. But this year losing all of our guys pretty early that played last year got him some opportunities fast. Then unfortunately he got hurt too. And then he was able to come back towards the end and finish strong. And I think the main thing with Jeff is, like a lot of guys on our team, him doing his part throughout this whole offseason and us doing our part to figure out how we can help him and anyone in any way. We've got a lot of good players, but we've got to find out how to handle the wear and tear of an entire season."
Shanahan on What He'll Look to Change in the Offseason
"I think we can improve everywhere. I mean, we've got to get some guys healthy back, which when you lose some big time pass rushers, that changes a lot of stuff. So, I think one of the biggest things is figuring out getting our guys healthy and getting them the right program, which I know most of them already started. And then when you have a good nucleus of players and you've got a good scheme, you don't sit there and necessarily always just target, 'Hey, this, whatever this stats said, we have to improve in this.' I mean, you do that as you watch tape and everything, but you look at all the options. You look in the draft hard, you look at for a free agency hard. And you see who has a chance to make your team and who can improve your team. And you just go at it as hard as you can."
49ers Quarterback C.J. Beathard on What He Learned About Himself and His Teammates in 2020
"I would just say first off, you know, you can battle through anything that's thrown at you in life. Whenever there are certain things that hit you, that you feel like you can't recover from or you feel like you'll never recover from, yeah you can. And I would just tell that to anybody out there who feels down in the dumps or something, if something happened in their life where they feel like they can't overcome it, you always can. With my teammates, I just appreciate the way they battled all year and I'm real proud of them. You know, we were put in a tough situation going to, here in Arizona for the last six or so weeks. Just the way they've handled it and came to work each day, I'm real proud of them for that."
Beathard on the Team's Monthlong Stay in Arizona
"Hopefully we don't ever have to do this again, first off. But, there were some good times, some good memories here with the guys when you're all kind of bunked up in the same hotel you get to see them in passing a little bit. We weren't allowed to really hang out or whatever. So that kind of stunk, but overall, you learn from it and you get better from the situation you're put in."
Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll on the Offense's Slow Start
"We couldn't start converting and we ran the ball better in the second half. We didn't run the ball very well early on. I don't know what our numbers were but just getting the mix, it's a really good defense, again, I know they are banged up but still they have been playing everybody tough. They have been hard. The defenses in this division are legit, including ours. It's a challenge every week. This is how it is."
Seahawks Quarterback Russell Wilson on the Matchup Against the 49ers Defense
"I think the first quarter we were moving the ball well, we just didn't get a chance to score in the end zone down there. They did some good stuff down there at the end. But really the second and third quarter is where we got stagnant a little bit. They did some good stuff and they stopped on third down. They had the ball for a while too and on a couple of those drives we were three and out. I think when you're playing a division team with a great system and scheme, you've got to be able to find ways to convert in the fourth quarter. We had to figure out a way to go win the game. They've been playing really good football the past several weeks as we've seen. For us, we had to step up in the fourth quarter and find a way to win the game."
