Kyle Shanahan, perhaps joking, proposed a reward for his 49ers defenders, blending together the history of DK Metcalf getting frustrated with the expectation that his players could instigate and prompt the next outburst.
During San Francisco’s meeting Saturday night at the Santa Clara Marriott, before their game against the Seahawks, Shanahan, their head coach, reportedly collected past clips of Metcalf losing his composure and then tossed out a promise.
“We will get ‘14’ to lose his mind,” Shanahan said to the team, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “Christmas present for whoever gets him.”
Maybe Fred Warner will end up getting that gift.
After Warner intercepted Seahawks quarterback Drew Lock with just over three minutes remaining, Metcalf grabbed Warner from behind and flipped him over onto the ground.
But before the attempted tackle, Warner tossed a lateral to Dre Greenlaw and knocked Metcalf’s head to the turf while running upfield — watching, then, as Metcalf retaliated by grabbing Warner’s facemask and shoving him away.
Metcalf — who learned American Sign Language to “sign my s–t-talking” and avoid penalties, as he told “The Rich Eisen Show” in October” — was ejected, and Warner delivered his own jab in a postgame press conference.
“Yeah, I don’t know what happened, man,” Warner told reporters, when asked about the scuffle. “I told him he tackles really well, and then, for some reason, he didn’t like that. I guess what happened, happened. It’s unfortunate, man. He gotta to learn to keep his composure, but happy we came out with the ‘dub’.”
Deommodore Lenoir was also ejected on the play.
Warner led the 49ers with eight tackles during their 28-16 victory, which moved them to 10-3 and extended their NFC West lead to four games over the Rams and Seahawks.
They’ve won five consecutive weeks since a three-game losing streak, and they kept the NFC’s No. 1 seed with matchups against the Cardinals, Ravens, Commanders and Rams remaining in the regular season.
