Steve Wilks’ street again: Inside 49ers DC’s path to Tremendous Bowl

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Sporting his greatest swimsuit, Steve Wilks arrived for his first NFL teaching alternative dressed to impress. It did not final lengthy.

Interviewing with then Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith and defensive coordinator Ron Rivera in early 2006 after 11 years teaching within the faculty ranks, Wilks made it about midway by the dialog earlier than his soccer ardour took over.

After Smith requested Wilks a reasonably innocuous query a few weak point within the Bears’ trademark Cowl-2 zone protection, Wilks eliminated his coat, loosened his tie and rolled up his sleeves. He burst into element about the way it wasn’t schematics however a training downside, assuring Smith and Rivera he may repair it briefly order.

Wilks bought the job.

“All the pieces about him permeated confidence,” Rivera stated. “When you have a man that is going to be assured in what he believes and what he says as a coordinator, it makes your job rather a lot simpler. … That is all I wanted to know. And that is at all times type of been Steve’s MO.”

Wilks’ self-belief has grow to be a essential trait all through a training profession that has included 20 job titles at 16 completely different stops throughout 28 years in faculty and the NFL. It has carried him by darkish and tough moments to the height of the career. That circuitous route has introduced Wilks to San Francisco for the high-profile (and high-stakes) job of 49ers defensive coordinator as they head into Tremendous Bowl LVIII in opposition to the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas (6:30 p.m. ET, Feb. 11, CBS).

The 5 years previous to Wilks becoming a member of the 49ers had been an up-and-down journey, beginning with a one-and-done stint after going 3-13 because the Arizona Cardinals’ head coach in 2018. That resulted in Wilks becoming a member of a lawsuit initiated by Brian Flores in 2022 in opposition to the NFL for racial discrimination through which he alleges the Cardinals didn’t give him a “truthful” alternative as a result of he’s Black and used him as a “bridge” coach. Wilks’ portion of the swimsuit is anticipated to go to arbitration, in keeping with a supply near the case.

Wilks’ path additionally included a 12 months every because the Cleveland Browns and College of Missouri defensive coordinator earlier than going to the Carolina Panthers in 2022, the place he was thrust into the function of interim coach after 5 video games, main them to a 6-6 file earlier than being handed over for the head-coaching job.

These tumultuous 5 years have reshaped Wilks’ teaching path, main him to the one job he actually needed after the disappointing finish to his tenure in Carolina. Wilks coveted the coordinator job in San Francisco, seeing an elite protection that would catapult him again right into a lead gig if he helps the 49ers win their record-tying sixth Lombardi Trophy.

“The unlucky half was the state of affairs he bought, it was a tricky one to be in,” Rivera stated. “I’d’ve hoped he may have gotten a second probability sooner, however he is needed to remake himself.”

AFTER WILKS JOINED Rivera in 2006, the coaches mixed for a run of success. For 10 of the 12 seasons between 2006 and 2017, Wilks labored alongside Rivera with the Bears (2006-07), San Diego Chargers (2009-10) and Panthers (2012-17).

Wilks’ ascent as Rivera’s second in command got here with its share of consideration. When Rivera took time away — equivalent to when he missed the beginning of coaching camp in 2015 after his brother died — Wilks was charged with retaining the machine transferring and main practices.

Rivera promoted Wilks from defensive backs coach to assistant head coach in 2015 and defensive coordinator in 2017. On the heart of Wilks’ protection was linebacker Luke Kuechly, a five-time first workforce All-Professional and the 2013 NFL Defensive Participant of the 12 months. Kuechly preferred Wilks for his capability to steadiness cracking jokes and having enjoyable with educating on the sphere.

“Guys simply need transparency and honesty, and guys simply need people who find themselves constant,” Kuechly stated. “And that is one thing that he is at all times been. … Nothing ever modified in how he carried himself irrespective of which job he was in.”

Wilks interviewed for jobs with the Los Angeles Rams in 2017 and New York Giants in 2018 however landed neither. In January 2018, the Cardinals had been taking a deliberate method to hiring their coach, ready till each different workforce had stuffed their vacancies. Wilks remained within the combine with a handful of different candidates, together with Flores, then a linebackers coach for the New England Patriots, earlier than being employed on Jan. 22.

Wilks jumped at Arizona’s provide with out what he now views as doing the mandatory diligence to see if it was a spot he may succeed.

“Once I went to Arizona, I used to be a younger, keen coach,” Wilks stated. “I believe I can go in there; I could make it occur. I wasn’t given the assets nor the time.”

As a result of he was the final coach employed in that cycle and because of what he described as strain from the entrance workplace to maintain sure assistant coaches, Wilks felt like he wasn’t in a position to assemble the teaching employees he needed to tackle the daunting rebuild the Cardinals confronted. It was tough to ascertain a rapport with common supervisor Steve Keim, who was suspended for 5 weeks that preseason following an arrest for excessive DUI.

In keeping with Wilks’ lawsuit, Keim and Wilks additionally did not see eye-to-eye on the Cardinals buying and selling three draft picks to maneuver up from No. 15 to No. 10 to draft UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen. Rosen, who began 13 video games in 2018, threw 11 landing passes and 14 interceptions with a QBR of 24.1. Rosen began three NFL video games after that season and is at present out of the league.

The Cardinals misplaced their first 4 video games and completed with the NFL’s worst file. Wilks was fired after one season. It was an abrupt ending to Wilks’ first NFL head-coaching alternative.

Cardinals proprietor Michael Bidwill stated he was not impressed with Wilks’ plan for 2019 and past however did not provide particulars on what he did not like.

“I simply did not really feel prefer it was a plan that I needed to get behind that might flip us round and get us again to the kind of soccer that we anticipate and our followers deserve,” Bidwill stated on the time.

The Cardinals employed Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury to switch Wilks and drafted quarterback Kyler Murray to step in for Rosen, who was traded to the Miami Dolphins. Arizona went 5-10-1 in its first season beneath Kingsbury, who remained with the Cardinals for 4 seasons, compiling a 28-37-1 file with one profitable season earlier than being eliminated following the 2022 season.

“There is a stage of issues which can be going to occur in your life that you haven’t any management over, however how are you going to reply?” Wilks stated. “And my response is at all times making an attempt to do it in a optimistic means.”

A DISAPPOINTED WILKS hit the reset button, making stops as defensive coordinator for the Browns in 2019 and Missouri in 2021, sandwiched round a 12 months off in 2020. He spent extra time along with his household in Ohio and studied developments round faculty and the NFL.

Wilks returned to the NFL and Carolina in 2022 to educate the secondary and be the defensive cross sport coordinator beneath Matt Rhule. The Panthers began 1-4, prompting Rhule’s firing.

Though Wilks needed one other shot at main a workforce, he was reticent when the Panthers requested him to be the interim coach for the ultimate 12 video games. Ten days after he was employed, Carolina traded its greatest participant, working again Christian McCaffrey, to the 49ers, making an already robust process harder.

However Wilks additionally noticed it as a chance to do the job his means. He made a number of adjustments to the teaching employees, parting methods with cornerbacks coach Evan Cooper and line of defense coach Paul Pasqualoni. He emphasised transparency with the gamers, letting them know what they had been doing proper and fallacious.

“For me it was simply extra like making an attempt to remain within the second,” Wilks stated. “I simply needed to attempt to implement it and instill a tradition that I do know was going to provide us an opportunity to win.”

Wilks’ method labored, because the Panthers had been .500 beneath Wilks, ending a sport behind Tampa Bay within the NFC South. Wilks bought two interviews to grow to be the Panthers everlasting head coach, however the job finally went to former Indianapolis Colts coach Frank Reich, who was fired 11 video games into this season after the Panthers began 1-10.

“I did not get it,” Wilks stated, “So I wasn’t shut sufficient.”

THERE WAS ONE job Wilks needed in 2023: 49ers defensive coordinator. So after earlier coordinator DeMeco Ryans was employed to grow to be the Houston Texans’ head coach, Wilks went for the open place.

His curiosity made sense, because the Niners protection had been among the many league’s greatest for many of the earlier 4 years and ranked at or close to the highest in a number of main classes in 2022. It did not damage that the earlier two coaches to carry the place — Robert Saleh and Ryans — had moved on to go teaching jobs with the New York Jets and Texans, respectively. Wilks bought his want, as he was employed by San Francisco on Feb. 7.

Wilks spent the offseason meticulously learning San Francisco’s protection, noting what every participant does and does not do properly, and in search of methods to implement a few of his historical past teaching defensive backs to make tweaks on the again finish, equivalent to a distinct method to enjoying quarters protection that places his defensive backs in place to get extra interceptions.

Nonetheless, Shanahan needed Wilks to stay with the workforce’s base 4-3 protection, which leans closely on zone protection behind a four-man cross rush.

“It is an enormous problem, particularly while you’ve completed soccer for some time,” Shanahan stated. “He needed to are available in and really feel it out too and simply see how he checked out it. The challenges are you are going to at all times do what’s pure to you. If you happen to do not, it is actually exhausting to do what’s proper within the warmth of battle.”

After a 5-0 begin, the Niners misplaced three in a row in October because the protection gave up 24 factors and 395.3 yards per sport, rating twenty fourth and thirtieth within the league, respectively, throughout that stretch.

Wilks knew the primary signal of defensive hassle would imply all eyes on him. That was the case after a Week 7 loss to the Minnesota Vikings through which he referred to as an all-out blitz on third-and-6 from Minnesota’s 40 with 17 seconds left within the first half that become a 60-yard landing. Whereas Wilks publicly accepted the blame, his gamers defended him.

Cornerback Charvarius Ward nonetheless bristles on the criticism Wilks obtained, not just for the 0-blitz name however for the job he’d completed to that time.

“All of us believed in him,” Ward stated. “I am like, s—, wasn’t his fault that I bought beat on that put up route in opposition to Minnesota. The ball was in my hand. I simply needed to make that play. If I’d’ve caught that ball, we in all probability would’ve gained that sport. … Everyone tried to place the blame on him. We had been like, bro, all of us on this s— collectively.”

AS THE NINERS entered their bye, Wilks and Shanahan mentioned options to get the protection going once more. One change — transferring Wilks from the sales space to the sphere — appeared beauty on the floor however revealed one thing deeper in Wilks’ teaching method.

The protection bought again on monitor, and the Niners rattled off six straight wins. Wilks believes his desire to remain calm and relaxed within the sales space was left over from his time main Carolina, the place specializing in the following name reigns supreme.

“A variety of that was nonetheless carrying over in my thoughts,” Wilks stated. “I additionally felt like I may see the sport higher up there, however I did not have that interplay with the gamers after which being related. That was the distinction for me.”

Wilks and the Niners discovered their footing within the again half of the season. They completed tied for first within the NFL in interceptions (22), third in scoring protection (17.5 factors per sport), tied for fifth in takeaways (28), seventh in yards per play allowed (5.0) and eighth in yards allowed (303.9).

“I am blissful that it is type of calmed down and we have found out our recipe,” defensive finish Nick Bosa stated.

That recipe has been examined within the playoffs, with Wilks once more beneath the microscope. The Niners have given up 26 factors and 159 dashing yards per sport within the workforce’s two postseason contests.

After escaping with a NFC Championship Recreation win in opposition to Detroit through which his protection struggled within the first half and tightened up within the second with a couple of changes equivalent to enjoying extra man protection, Wilks vowed to get issues mounted.

Wilks’ efforts this season had been sufficient to earn him a pair of head teaching interviews — with the Los Angeles Chargers and Atlanta Falcons — this cycle. He did not land both job however has been in a position to make use of these alternatives to sharpen his interviewing abilities. A Tremendous Bowl win as defensive coordinator can be a major addition to his résumé.

Wilks says being in San Francisco has opened his eyes to the quantity of element and assets that go right into a profitable franchise. He asks questions on every little thing — from a workforce’s vitamin plan to their long-term wage cap well being.

“Coming right here, I have been proven the blueprint of the way it ought to look,” Wilks stated. “It is completed the best means. That is what I am in search of if I get a chance. And if not, I am content material being part of this nice group and staying proper right here.”