The 49ers are not only playing a team they can possibly beat on Sunday in the embattled Colts, but they’re also getting healthier. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said on the KNBR morning show with Murph and Mac, that rookie linebacker Reuben Foster (ankle) and safety Eric Reid (knee) could return next week and possibly play a week from Sunday in Washington.
“It’s not for sure, but hopefully, we get them out there next Wednesday and see how it goes,” Shanahan said. Foster exited in the opening-day loss to Carolina and Reid went down a week later in Seattle. Shanahan also said the team hopes to get wide receiver Marquise Goodwin back on Sunday as he goes through the final stage of the concussion protocol.
Shanahan said Goodwin was a big part of the game plan last week in the Arizona loss. The 49ers replaced Goodwin with Aldrick Robinson, who dropped a potential 57-yard bomb and caught only three passes in 12 targets.
Running back Carlos Hyde has been limited the last two weeks with a hip injury, but Shanahan is hopeful Hyde will be healthier this week than he was in Arizona.
As far as the team itself, Shanahan is disappointed with the losing, but believes the approach doesn’t need a major alteration.
“When you lose three games by a total of eight points you don’t want to come in and change everything,” Shanahan said. “You don’t want to be doing new stuff every week. You want to do stuff over and over and rep it until you can really own something and do it at a consistent high level.”
Shanahan also said his team needs to improve on making the play “at the moment of truth,” meaning when the game is on the line, something they have failed to do on more than one occasion this season.