Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch were just getting comfortable. Their new positions, which they held for the first time, came with big, well-appointed offices and personal assistants. It was much different from their former jobs when Shanahan was an offensive coordinator in Atlanta and Lynch worked as a broadcaster traveling the country each week during the fall.
They quickly became the most important people in the building, asked to resurrect a struggling franchise in need of a dramatic makeover.
Shanahan was the fourth 49ers head coach in four seasons. Turmoil, finger pointing and a general lack of cohesion from ownership to the coaching staff marred the previous three campaigns, which all ended with coaches losing their jobs.