49ers’ Steve Wilks orchestrates defensive revival from sideline

It didn’t happen simply because Steve Wilks abandoned the isolated think-tank of the coaches’ box for the intensity and electricity of the sideline.

Yet when the 49ers defensive coordinator was kicked downstairs after consultation with coach Kyle Shanahan, things have been on an upward trend ever since.

The 49ers are rolling again on defense, giving up an NFL-low 15.8 points per game and excelling in every area since the three-game losing streak that precipitated Wilks’ move from the box to the sideline. The change, which Shanahan said was minor, was just a starting gun for what followed.

Wilks knew what was coming when he signed on to replace DeMeco Ryans, who like Robert Saleh before him parlayed his success running the 49ers’ defense into a head coaching gig.

Much like the move from the eighth floor to ground level at Levi’s Stadium, there was nowhere to go but down in the eyes of the public when taking over a defense as good as the 49ers.

“Like I told you guys before, I’m a very small piece of this puzzle,” Wilks said Thursday. “I knew coming into this situation when we didn’t do well, I was going to get blamed, and when we did good, we were supposed to.”

Wilks, 54, is correct in his view of how he’d be evaluated, but he’s playing the good soldier in minimizing his role. Evaluating the 49ers on defense from the crash-and-burn in Weeks 6 through 8 against the five-game win streak in Weeks 10 through 14 is like comparing two different units.

The 49ers gave up 24.0 points per game, 395.3 yards, 6.2 yards per play, 122.1 yards rushing and a 4.7 per-rush average with five sacks and four takeaways in the three losses. In the subsequent five-game win streak, the 49ers are giving up 13.0 points per game, 277.0 yards, 4.6 yards per play and 65.8 yards per game rushing with a 3.5 per-rush average with 22 sacks and 10 takeaways.

Nick Bosa began piling up sacks instead of pressures. There was a seamless transition from injured All-Pro strong safety Talanoa Hufanga to rookie Ji’Ayir Brown. Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw are playing at a Patrick Willis-Navorro Bowman level at linebacker.

Wilks, whose specialty is the secondary, has devised schemes that included Charvarius Ward shadowing the opponent’s top receiver.

Getting beat by Cleveland and practice-squad promotion P.J. Walker and then sliced and diced by Kirk Cousins and Joe Burrow seems like ancient history.

Having been a head coach for 28 games (3-13 with Arizona in 2018, 6-6 as interim head coach with Carolina), Wilks has dealt with the media enough to master the art of deflection when the questions are about him.

Credit where credit is due — during his 49ers tenure, Wilks has adjusted to a system already in place while putting in his own tweaks and it was only natural for it to take a while to get in gear.

There was the much-debated zero blitz call against Minnesota that led to a 60-yard Cousins-to-Jordan Addison touchdown before halftime. That brought a public shaming from Shanahan and later speculation that moving the coordinator to the sideline was made in panic. The 49ers beat Jacksonville 34-3 and haven’t looked back.

The anti-Wilks noise meter heading into Sunday’s game against Arizona?

Crickets.

“I don’t think his confidence or anything with him has wavered,” free safety Tashaun Gipson said. “In the three-game losing streak, he didn’t sweat. He stood up in front of us like a man and talked to us like men. It’s the energy he’s given us that has us playing our brand of football. He’s still keeping the main thing the main thing. He understands the big goal and if we do what we do and the offense does what they do no one can beat us.”

Defensive end Clelin Ferrell said Wilks’ demeanor has never changed.

“He comes into work and is the same guy, win or lose,” Ferrell said. “I think that’s what we respect about him. The only time you’ll see him act mad is in how we do things. It’s not just if we won, but how did we win? It’s a standard we can buy into because we’ve got a lot of guys that want to do great things. The kind of man he is makes it easy for us.”

Shanahan, who said he likes having Wilks on the sideline even if it’s not the sole reason for improvement, sees a better defense than the one that opened the season on a five-game win streak, let alone the three-game losing streak.

“I think we’ve been playing better as a group on all three levels,” Shanahan said Friday. “I think even in our five wins in a row to our three losses, it was a little sporadic. The D-line had their times, the linebackers had their times, the secondary did. All three of those units have been matching each other better. It’s led to more turnovers, more sacks, a lot more (pass breakups).”

Wilks wasn’t an overly heavy blitzer in previous stops, but according to SportsRadar the 49ers were bringing extra rushers at a 20.5 percent rate during the losing streak that has dropped to 14.6 percent in the last five games. Much of that has to do with trusting his defensive line to create pressure.

He also helped devise the “mush-rush” tactic which helped keep the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts in the pocket in a 42-19 win over Philadelphia and now deals with another run-threat in Arizona’s Kyler Murray.

The 49ers will be without Javon Hargrave and Arik Armstead this week, but Bosa feels good about the way new rushers have blended in with Wilks running the defense and Kris Kocurek handling the defensive line which included newcomers in Ferrell, Randy Gregory and Chase Young.