LAS VEGAS — Steve Wilks has probably the least desirable assignment of any coach in Super Bowl 58.
The San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator is tasked with slowing down Patrick Mahomes, who with all due respect to likely MVP Lamar Jackson, is still the best player on the planet.
Super Bowl 58 a Showcase Game for San Francisco 49ers DC Steve Wilks
“It’s a difficult task,” Wilks said of defending Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback. “I’ll tell you that we talked about it all week. A tremendous guy that, you know, I’ve been telling people all week, you know, they have two plays, they play when the ball snaps, and then they play once he starts to scramble.
“So you got to do a great job up front, really containing him.”
Wilks has the talent and scheme to do it. In his first year with the team, the 49ers’ defense ranked in the top 10 in scoring (17.5 points per game), yards (303.9 per game), yards per play (5.0), and yards per pass (5.9).
In short, he’s been exactly what the Niners hoped they were getting when they hired him last winter.
And he’s everything that the Carolina Panthers — and every other team that needed a head coach the last two cycles — missed out on by passing on him.
Wilks was the Panthers’ interim coach after they fired Matt Rhule in October 2022. His players loved him, but David Tepper picked Frank Reich as Rhule’s permanent replacement instead.
That was a mistake; Reich didn’t last a season, and the Panthers are on their fifth coach (including interims) in 16 months.
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For many, Tepper’s snub of Wilks was indicative of a much broader issue — the NFL‘s poor history of elevating Black candidates to head coach.
Wilks, who lasted just one year as Arizona Cardinals head coach a half-decade ago, is among those who believe that systemic bias is at play.
He joined Brian Flores’ (still active) racial discrimination class-action lawsuit against the NFL, believing the Cardinals used him as a “bridge coach.”
After Tepper passed on Wilks as Rhule’s replacement, San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan pounced.
Wilks said the year he’s spent in the Bay Area has “been great. This is an outstanding organization, being around these guys on defense. A tremendous honor to coach those guys. And I’m just excited that we’re here, but we’re definitely here to finish the job.”
Wilks insists his motivation doesn’t come from proving people wrong, but it’s a bonus.
“I’m a very confident individual, as well as humble,” he said. “So, I think, you know, my reputation precedes itself and the things that I’ve been able to do in this league.”
Wilks — who interviewed for the Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Chargers openings this cycle — wants another shot as a head coach and is confident he would do a good job if given a chance.
Does he deserve that chance?
“That’s not for me. The only thing I can do is put my head down, keep grinding and keep working and then whatever happens, you know, I’ll be prepared and ready for it. I always used to say, saying, be where your feet are, you know, and that’s where I am right now.”
Black candidates did get three of the eight openings this cycle, a sign that perhaps things are improving.
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“That’s one thing that, you know, I’m not going to express and talk about,” Wilks told PFN Monday. “You look at what they’ve done this year, I think it’s pretty good, you know. That’s not up to me. I really don’t have a lot to say.”
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