Kyle Shanahan - Answers for sliding 49ers already on team - ESPN

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — It was right around this time last year that the San Francisco 49ers found themselves in a difficult spot heading into their bye week.

The Kansas City Chiefs had just beaten them soundly at Levi's Stadium to drop to 3-4 on the season. But the biggest solution to that team's problems was already in the building. They acquired running back Christian McCaffrey in a blockbuster trade a couple days earlier with the idea that he could spark a second-half run. He did, and the Niners ripped off 10 straight wins to close the season on the way to an NFC Championship Game appearance.

Little more than a year later, the Niners head into their bye and Tuesday's NFL trade deadline with a much better record but just as much urgency to right the ship after Sunday's 31-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. After a 5-0 start, the loss to the Bengals was San Francisco's third in a row, dropping them to 5-3 and out of first place in the NFC West division.

Though the Niners are likely to be active in the search for outside help, coach Kyle Shanahan made it clear Sunday afternoon that another McCaffrey isn't walking through that door. Which means improvement must largely come from within, a process that will begin with plenty of self-reflection over the bye before the Niners play the Jacksonville Jaguars on Nov. 12.

«No, none of this changes anything with the trade deadline,» Shanahan said. «How we played today or how we played these last three weeks… I do believe we have the answers in our building. I believe we have good players. I believe we have good coaches. It's up to me to get them to do better.

»I thought we started out pretty good, but there's some things that we haven't been able to hide here these last few weeks