Shanahan explains his outburst after 49ers penalties vs. Packers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
GREEN BAY, Wisc. — Coach Kyle Shanahan had a disagreement with referee Craig Wrolstad over the legitimacy of the first of consecutive 12-man penalties on the field.
But with the second, there was little room for interpretation. The 49ers screwed up.
The rare sequence occurred in the middle of the second quarter and led to a Green Bay touchdown.
Shanahan said Wrolstad didn’t give the 49ers a chance to make changes to fit the Packers’ changing lineup. Originally, Green Bay had one back and two tight ends in the group.
“They sent another receiver onto the field to fill in, and if they ducked, they were going to have to let us duck,” Shanahan explained after the 49ers’ 38-10 loss at Lambeau Field.
“We started changing our staff, and then they ran to the line and snapped. It was a strategic action by them, but I think it should not have been allowed.”
The Packers snapped the ball before the 12th defender could reach the sideline, giving quarterback Jordan Love a free pass.
“They didn’t give us time to get into that, and that’s why I was upset about that,” Shanahan said. “And then the next one, because they got away with the first one, they tried to do it again on the next play.”
Love eventually threw into the end zone, where San Francisco safety Malik Mustapha made the interception. Offsetting penalties negated the 49ers’ takeaway.
Shanahan was angry and expressed his objection to Wrolstad.
Then San Francisco’s defensive coaches didn’t get the right substitutions for the next play. The 49ers had to be penalized again because they had twelve men on the field.
“I was there screaming the whole time, so I don’t know exactly what happened to the 12 boys,” Shanahan said. “But of course we had twelve men there. They gave us time to dig in, but we couldn’t get any done. So the second one was for us.”
That penalty moved the ball to the 49ers’ 5-yard line. Two plays later, running back Josh Jacobs scored on a 1-yard run, giving the Packers a 17–0 lead.
Green Bay would score a touchdown two plays later, extending their lead to 17-0.
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