49ers’ DeMeco Ryans expected to interview with four teams before next playoff game

As hectic as preparing for the 49ers’ divisional playoff game Sunday will be for everyone involved, it will be even more frenetic for defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans.

One of the NFL’s hottest head coaching candidates, Ryans, 38, has interviews scheduled with Denver and Houston and is also expected to talk with Indianapolis and Arizona.

That’s four of the five teams currently with vacancies. The Carolina Panthers are the fifth.

The 49ers learn Monday night whether they’ll host Dallas or Tampa Bay in the divisional round following a 41-23 win over Seattle in the wild-card round. Game time will be 3:30 p.m. on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.

Coach Kyle Shanahan is fine with Ryans planning for the future while at the same time putting everything he has into the present.

“My advice is you’ve got to set that aside and set some specific times that you are going to deal with it,” Shanahan said Monday during a conference call.

Ryans, however, didn’t have the luxury of a bye week as Shanahan did as offensive coordinator of the Falcons when he interviewed with the 49ers during the 2016 postseason.

“We got three days off, I was able to set aside two days for those interviews, I knocked ’em all out and then there wasn’t anything after that,” Shanahan said. “I completely shut it off and went back to the playoffs.”

After declining a second interview last offseason with the Minnesota Vikings, who eventually hired Kevin O’Connell, Ryans made it clear last week he was interested in going further in the process this time around.

“There’s a lot of scenarios, a lot of situations that come up throughout the year,” Ryans said. “Not just looking at it from a defensive perspective, but looking at it from a total team perspective and just being able to sit and listen to conversation that enhance my knowledge — not just on defense, but the overall. I feel really good at where I am right now.”

Shanahan said interviews with Denver and Houston are expected Thursday, with Indianapolis and Arizona likely to follow on Saturday, and that it won’t affect Ryans’ focus on either Dallas or Tampa Bay.

“Friday afternoon we get some time off, it shouldn’t cut into anything, and usually on Thursdays we finish a little earlier than we do other nights of the week so it’s a chance to do that Thursday night,” Shanahan said. “When you set aside time for that, it’s a lot for DeMeco to prepare for but I think he is prepared for it. When you’re done with those you go back to the most important thing at hand and that’s us finding a way to win on Sunday.”

Wasted prep time

At least half of the preparation done by 49ers coaches Monday will go straight to the waste basket once it’s determined Sunday’s opponent will be Dallas or Tampa Bay.

“We’ll get ahead watching a lot of film on Dallas and Tampa and we’ll have watched enough on both teams we’re just waiting on the game,” Shanahan said. “So we’ll probably just sit back and relax when that starts and watch the TV copy like a normal person and then get back to work before we start on Tuesday.”

The Purdy rebound

Rookie quarterback Brock Purdy sailed his first pass over the head of Deebo Samuel and ended the first half completing just nine of 19 passes for 147 yards and a touchdown. In the second half, Purdy was 9 of 11 for 185 yards and two touchdowns.

“There were a couple of plays he just missed,” Shanahan said. “I know when that happens it sticks out. When you only have a couple of misses, you really don’t need to panic. Brock’s an accurate thrower, he’s been doing that all year and playing well. I don’t think there’s much of an explanation for it, just for us to settle down a bit and give him a few more opportunities. He got those in the second half and was pretty lethal with them.”

With the 49ers averaging 8.3 yards per snap in the first half (249 yards on 30 plays), the concern was settling for 34- and 33-yard Robbie Gould field goals rather than getting the offense in gear.

Things stabilized on the opening drive of the second half when the 49ers drove 75 yards in 13 plays to score on Purdy’s 1-yard run.

“If we keep getting field goals, then we’re going to have to be dependent on them not scoring the rest of the game to try to win, and we don’t want to have to be dependent on that,” Shanahan said. “I think coming out, first drive of the third quarter, slowing things down and going on a good drive, that was a huge deal for us and it took off from there.”

The squib kick

Almost forgotten in the 49ers avalanche was a regrettable end to the first half after Gould’s third field goal put the 49ers up 16-14 with 13 seconds to play.

Rather than kick deep, Gould’s squib kick was fielded at the 24 by Colby Parkinson and returned to the 38-yard line. Geno Smith scrambled for nine yards, Jimmie Ward hit the sliding quarterback for a personal foul, and the Seahawks ended the half with a 56-yard field goal by Jason Myers for a 17-16 lead.

The object of the squib kick was to burn additional clock time, but the end result will probably have Shanahan leaning toward kicking it deep the next time.

“It ended up being a real bad decision, I thought,” Shanahan said. “They got it at the (38) and needed just one mistake by us, one one big play by them and they’re in field goal range. And we made the mistake with that personal foul.”

Kinlaw’s surprise contribution

Defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw played 30 snaps and has been a valuable piece of defensive line depth — one Shanahan said he wasn’t really counting on as the season wore on.

Kinlaw, a first-round draft pick in 2021, opened the season as the starter but was out of the lineup by Week 3 and beset by setbacks during rehab. He returned in Week 16 and has joined Arik Armstead at defensive tackle to fortify the 49ers’ in the middle.

“Everyone knows the expectations that were in Kinlaw and the huge setback he’s had with his injuries. And I really didn’t believe he was going to come back at all this year with what he’s gone through,” Shanahan said. “To get him back and add some depth to our D-line, and watch him get better each week, he’s helped us in the run game and is having an impact in the pass game.”

Injury outlook

The injury report coming out of the Seattle game was light as expected. Wide receiver Jauan Jennings and defensive end Samson Ebukam are both day-to-day with ankle injuries.