The NFL on Saturday fined 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan $25,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct for his verbal lashing of an official in the third quarter of Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks.
Shanahan earlier this week said the sequence of events began when 49ers linebacker Fred Warner’s shoe fell off near the line of scrimmage.
As Warner went to retrieve his shoe, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson threw it eight yards behind the line of scrimmage. Referee Clete Blakeman would have been in front of Wilson as he picked up Warner’s shoe.
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Warner went to get his shoe in an area close to umpire Ramon George. Play was not delayed as Warner got his shoe and went toward the 49ers’ sideline. Linebacker Elijah Lee hurried onto the field to replace Warner, but was called for offside.
“That was the tipping point, that penalty,” Shanahan said on Monday. “But it was definitely a number of other ones from earlier that was a buildup.”
Wilson was not fined. He explained his version of events to the Seattle-area media this week.
“Listen, I didn’t know whose shoe it was, first of all,” Wilson said. “Second of all, it was right in the middle of my play. It had to go. We were going no-huddle. And it was like right where we were going to pretty much snap it.
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“And I was like, ‘Hey, anybody’s shoe? Nope? All right. Whatever.’ So I threw it. One, I didn’t want to throw it forward because we were going in that direction towards the end zone. So I threw it back. I had never seen a shoe on the field like that in the middle of a play when I’m trying to go no-huddle.”
Shanahan was shown berating line judge Walt Coleman IV, who threw the flag for offside. Shanahan was asked this week if play should have been held up to allow Lee to substitute into the game.
“That’s what I was trying to figure out, especially when another guy on the opposing team threw it,” Shanahan said. “I’m not saying that he did that maliciously or anything, who knows? But it was an unusual situation and it was my tipping point.”
In other fine news, 49ers linebacker Malcolm Smith was fined $10,026 for unnecessary roughness for a hit on a sliding Wilson. And Seahawks defensive tackle Jarran Reed was fined $20,054 for a roughing the passer penalty against Nick Mullens.
San Francisco defensive lineman Cassius Marsh was not fined for a pregame incident in which he allegedly threw Gatorade on a heckling Seahawks fan, the NFL said.
According to the police report, Marsh is seen on video walking from the end zone area across the entrance to the tunnel and throwing a cup of liquid into the stands, striking three fans.
Rob Larsen, 60, of Seattle, told NBC Sports Bay Area, he was heckling Marsh about valuable magic cards that were stolen out of Marsh's car two years ago when he played for the Seahawks. Marsh told police the heckler called his mother an offensive word.
“The case has been documented,” according to a police spokesperson. “Both parties made allegations against one another at the scene, but did not provide additional evidence.”