When San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke at the podium after last week’s game, he had no injuries to report—a rare moment for one of the NFL’s most frequently banged-up teams. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case after
Here is the rundown:
Shanahan acknowledged concern about Piñeiro’s hamstring injury, noting the 49ers will look to get confirmation about the severity on Monday.
“We think he pulled it, but not sure. We’ll have to check tomorrow,” Shanahan said.
After the game, Piñeiro was seen heading to the locker room with a slight limp.
Bethune has been filling in for All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner, who is out for the season. Shanahan said the severity of Bethune’s ankle injury remains unclear, but emphasized it was significant enough to sideline him for the remainder of the game.
Naturally, that generates some concern.
“He wasn’t able to come back, so you always worry about that,” Shanahan said. “We’ll have to check tomorrow to see if it’s a high-ankle [sprain].”
After the game, Bethune was seen heading to the locker room while favoring his ankle. The linebacker was also seen wearing a walking boot and was carted to the team bus.
Despite all the great plays that the Pittsburgh Steelers made in their victory against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, the only thing that anyone wants to talk about is the fourth quarter incident where Ja’Marr Chase spit on Jalen Ramsey. Despite his claims that he never did it, video evidence has surfaced of him actually committing that disrespectful, disgusting act. There is no way to deny it now, and he could even be suspended a game for his classless decision. Spitting on someone does not belong in the game at all.
However, Chase has still received some support, despite him clearly being in the wrong. That included Head Coach Zac Taylor, who seems to be okay with what transpired on the field then.
Yes, there had been a lot of trash talking along with some pushing and shoving before that. However, that does not justify spitting on another player, yet Taylor feels the need to protect his star receiver.
In the eyes of many, Ramsey’s reaction was completely reasonable, but that didn’t stop Head Coach Mike Tomlin from chastising his star safety. He didn’t want to hear any excuses for why he got ejected from the game, and he let the world know that. Tomlin is talking about how his players need to be “smarter” while Taylor is trying to show support for an act that should not be a part of any sport.
Even Bengals legend Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson did not hesitate to call out Chase for his horrible decision on the field. It seems like everyone but Taylor is capable of reading the room and understanding how wrong it is to spit on someone. There is just no way to justify it, no matter how hard the head coach tries to. There are very few acts more shameful than that.
Under that post, many fans have speculated that Taylor is very close to losing the locker room and only stood in support of his star player due to fear of completely losing it and being fired. However, it is still hard to support a man who seems to be content with his players going outside the game of football and defiling an opponent like that, especially during a blowout loss.
As mentioned before, Tomlin called out Ramsey publicly for getting himself ejected during that whole incident. That’s not the first time he has called out someone specifically for questionable decisions made on the field of play, and it most likely won’t be his last. He prefers to handle everything behind closed doors, but if someone does something that’s obviously wrong, he won’t hesitate to say something about it.
Earlier in the 2025 season, Detroit Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell refused to defend safety Brian Branch for punching a player after the game was over. He called his player’s actions “inexcusable” as he spoke about how terrible that act was. Of course, Campbell is one of the most fun, respected coaches in the NFL, but he still understands when a player goes too far.
It’s also not the first time that a coach stood up for a star player after committing a horrible act against Pittsburgh. Then-head coach, Freddie Kitchens of the Cleveland Browns publicly wore a shirt that said “Steelers started it” after Myles Garrett whacked Mason Rudolph over the head with his own helmet, then lied about the quarterback calling him a slur. Kitchens was fired after that one season.