“Seifert’s college roommate, Lynn Stiles, was the 49ers’ special teams coach, and he seemed to have inalienable job security. Stiles needed it, too, because the Niners’ special teams units were among the NFL’s worst. The thing was, not too many people at team headquarters seemed to care.
As they closed in on a fourth championship in nine seasons, the 49ers’ collective mindset was something akin to this: We’re so good on offense and defense that special teams don’t even really matter.