The San Francisco 49ers need to do something different offensively.

Last season they were one of the best teams in the NFL. This season they have struggled on that side of the ball. Injuries certainly played a role, but whatever the 49ers have done on offense can’t seem to work without players like Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk available and playing at a high level.

Those struggles, including 10 points each in Weeks 12 and 13 followed by a six-point performance in Week 15, have led to questions about the viability of Shanahan’s offense as it currently exists. Shanahan said any adjustments to his offense will depend on what’s best for the team’s personnel.

“That’s what you try to do every week,” Shanahan said. “That’s what you always try to do. But it’s a bit like the other question when it comes to intrigue: you don’t just say, “Hey, today I’m going to try to run the wishbone offense and stuff.” It’s about what players you have, what you believe in You and what gives these guys the best chance of success? For a brief period of time, we almost went with the running quarterback here, possibly (Dallas Cowboys QB) Trey (Lance). When he came out there you saw a different offense.

“You see different things. You have to adapt your players. I know what I want to do. I think we have the players here who can do that. But to reinvent myself as you wish, I sported a mustache for a while this offseason. That’s how I would see it. And I’m just kidding, but when it comes to football, I think coaches get a little too much credit when a really good concept is to give the players you have the best chances, the maximum get out and do your best. That’s what we will always try to do. This will change the pattern.”

It stands to reason that we’ll be relying less on McCaffrey in 2025, considering the team has struggled to score in the red zone without him this season. There will also likely be an adjustment to a version of Samuel that was unable to take over games through screen passes and designed runs.

Whatever changes need to be made to the 49ers’ offense, adapting is nothing new for Shanahan.

“When I came into the league you see certain things and I ran a certain offense in Houston, when I was there, went to Washington, tried to run a really similar offense and it was a completely different personnel, and I realized I couldn’t run the same and I had to adapt and every year was different,” Shanahan said. “Then we got Robert (Griffin III, the former Washington Commanders quarterback), a quarterback with a running element, and then I had to do things I’d never done before. Not because you’re simply reinventing yourself or trying to change the league, but because you want to find what can help the guys you have succeed. And that can constantly change depending on the player’s skills.

“But as a coach I would say: If you want to make it in this league and have some success in this league, you have to be better at adapting to everything, otherwise you won’t be successful until you have the perfect situations .”

How Shanahan adapts his offense to his personnel after the offseason will be the deciding factor in whether the 49ers are able to open another Super Bowl window.