Kyle Shanahan addressed the media on Monday to recap the team's fifth-straight loss, a 26-23 overtime defeat to the Indianapolis Colts. Here are the top notes from the San Francisco 49ers head coach.1. A rotation in the running game
We saw Matt Breida out-snap Pierre Garçon on Sunday. That had to do with the rookie's success against the Colts, gaining 49 yards on just 10 carries. Shanahan said that Hyde hasn't lost his starting job, but Breida will continue to be mixed in throughout each game.
The amount of carries for each back will likely vary each week depending on who has the hot hand.
"I plan on going with Carlos early, and I plan on spelling him with Breida regardless, whether he's doing good or bad," Shanahan said. " Breida had a real good week of practice. We weren't out there as much as we wanted, especially early in the game, and we ended up just going with the hot hand. We felt like Breida was going better at the time. I think they ended up, I think it was like 35 plays to 33 plays, so it was pretty even. That's how it played out in that game. But, I think it'll be a different story each week."
2. Keeping "Bo" fresh
It was predetermined that NaVorro Bowman would get a few series off on Sunday against the Colts. Brock Coyle filled in at MIKE linebacker and played 25 snaps in Week 5. The goal going forward is to keep Bowman fresh rather than have him playing 80 snaps a game.
Shanahan reiterated that his plan isn't to "phase out" Bowman.
"I don't really look at it that way," Shanahan said. "We think keeping him fresher will help him, which will help our team, and if it does and helps him play at a higher level, then no, the plan worked. You see how guys react to it and you watch that tape each week, you watch practice each week, you watch how their bodies recover, how it goes through a 16-game season, and it's not to phase anyone out or to go younger.
"It's (about) what do we think will help the player, what helps the team? That's what we feel is the best for us right now and (we've) kind of been leaning towards that way these last two weeks and plan on continuing that."
3. Two potential returns
Eric Reid (knee) and Reuben Foster (ankle) could return to practice on Wednesday. Specifically in regards to Foster, Shanahan warned that his status for Week 6 against the Washington Redskins is still to be determined.
"I'm excited to hopefully get Reuben back for practice on Wednesday, but by no means do I think that means he's going to play on Sunday."
Foster has been out since Week 1 and Reid has been out since Week 2.
4. Two-point philosophy
George Kittle's touchdown catch late in the fourth quarter made it 23-22, Colts. Shanahan had the option of going for two points and the win in regulation, or kicking the PAT and going to overtime.
Shanahan picked the latter, citing his belief the 49ers were the better team as the driving force behind the decision.
"I thought about it hard," Shanahan said. "I felt pretty confident in that game with our team, both sides of the ball. I felt like the longer that game lasted, … I felt like the better team would win, and I felt like we were (the better team). And so I just wanted to play longer.
"If I felt extremely fortunate to be in that game, and I felt like it was a matter of time before the other team was going to get after us, then I'd take my shot at the two and go for it, but I felt pretty confident in our team winning over the long haul."
