© Kyle Terada | 2020 Nov 5
Kyle Shanahan made it clear that he’s not happy with Santa Clara County after they essentially booted the 49ers out of their home for the remainder of the season.
“To find that out through a tweet or a press conference where I have an entire plane coming up to me, I have all wives, everyone’s girlfriends, everyone’s family members, kids, saying that what they heard there, ‘Are we gonna be gone for the entire month of December? Are we going to be quarantined for 14 days when we get back?’ I mean, that’s all we could talk about for the last 18 hours,” Shanahan said during his postgame presser on Sunday.
“Because we got no answers from them, and I was just very disappointed and very proud of our guys, that I couldn’t give them the answers and they could put it to the side and come out and play like that. I got so much appreciation for our team and those players and I’m very proud to be those guys’ coach.”
Shanahan’s biggest gripe seemed to stem from the lack of communication from the county, especially considering the 49ers have adhered to some of the strictest COVID protocols in the country during this season.
But the county is calling BS on Shanahan’s claims in their latest statement given to the San Jose Mercury News, claiming that the 49ers were made aware of the ruling that contact sports could no longer take place in the county, and that it would’ve been “impossible” to notify them earlier.
“It is hard for me to believe that the 49ers were surprised by the new orders given how serious the situation is both locally and across the country,” Santa Clara County Executive Dr. Jeff Smith said. “They received a notice of the new orders as soon as the orders were finalized, at the same time we notified the thousands of businesses impacted in the community.
“It is impossible to notify anyone of the final decisions before they are made.”
For now, the 49ers will be stationed in Arizona, and play their remaining “home games” at State Farm Stadium in Glendale.