Grant Cohn: Kyle Shanahan interview with the 49ers will be a two-way interrogation

The 49ers may not understand what will happen this weekend in Atlanta.

They probably see this weekend as a formality. Jed York and his pal, Paraag Marathe, will meet with Kyle Shanahan and conduct his second interview for the team’s head-coaching vacancy.

They also will meet with Minnesota Vikings executive George Paton and Arizona Cardinals executive Terry McDonough at the same time, and conduct their second interviews for the team’s GM job.

York will bring the coffee and scones. Marathe will bring creamer and nametags. Then Shanahan will do most of the work. He’ll vet Paton and McDonough - get to know them, feel them out - and decide for the 49ers which GM they should hire.

Then, the 49ers will hire the GM of Shanahan’s choosing Saturday night or Monday morning and formally introduce Shanahan as the next head coach the day after the Super Bowl.

Easy. No sweat.

Except there will be sweat. Big beads of sweat on the faces of York and Marathe. They won’t merely moderate the interview - they’ll be the focus of it. Shanahan will scrutinize those two as much or more than he scrutinizes Paton and McDonough. In other words, Shanahan will be interviewing them, determining their worth.

Shanahan alluded to this Tuesday during a podcast with Sports Illustrated’s Peter King. King mentioned to Shanahan that “one of the great things” about the 49ers’ job is that the next head coach “is going to get a long time, relatively speaking … But to me, they’ve got to give you three, four years minimum and a longer contract than that because you need to institute your culture … Does that at all intimidate you?”

“Not really,” Shanahan said. “You’ve got to look into every situation for what they have, what they’re saying. I got to talk to them a couple of weeks ago. I’ll be allowed to talk to them again this week. We’ll see what their plans are. Don’t really know yet. But that definitely is something that is enticing and you hope to have an opportunity because everything takes time. You’ve got to make sure you’ve got that.”

King made it sound as if it’s a given Shanahan will receive patience from 49ers’ management. Shanahan seemed less sure. He said he wants to hear “what they’re saying” and “see what their plans are.” Then he said “everything takes time,” and he must make sure he has that. Those were the key phrases in his quote.

Sounds as if Shanahan is interested in the 49ers’ job, but hasn’t decided if he wants to work for York and Marathe. Most sane people don’t want to. Kansas City Chiefs executive Chris Ballard and New England Patriots executive Nick Caserio refused to sit for an interview with them, and Green Bay Packers executive Eliot Wolf fled after just one, as did Brian Gutekunst, Trent Kirchner, Scott Fitterer and Josh McDaniels.

York and Marathe have terrible reputations. They’ve created a toxic culture and blame everyone else for it. Will they blame Shanahan next?

Shanahan knows the 49ers face a long-term rebuild. Now he needs to make sure York and Marathe know it, too. Needs to make sure they know he expects to have horrible records the first couple of seasons. Needs to make sure they won’t fire him while he’s rebuilding.

York and Marathe seem obsessed with the fantasy of the quick fix. They chase it like Captain Ahab chased Moby Dick. Every time a head coach doesn’t have a winning season, York and Marathe fire him. Do they expect Shanahan to win right away?

They might. On Jan.y 20, Adam Schefter wrote, “the 49ers would pursue (Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins) as hard as they’ve pursued Shanahan.”

Quick-fix alert.

Cousins would cost the 49ers two first-round picks - one this year and one next year - if the Redskins give him the franchise tag, which they probably will. This is the kind of trade a team makes when it believes it’s a quarterback away from contending.

The 49ers are not a quarterback away from contending. They are not a quarterback away from anything.

They have holes all over their roster. Tom Brady couldn’t win with this team, much less Cousins. Trading for him only would prolong the flat-lining of the franchise, because it would lose the high draft picks necessary to build a winning team. Trading for Cousins virtually would guarantee Shanahan’s firing within the next couple of years.

Shanahan must find out where this Cousins rumor came from. It couldn’t come from a GM - the 49ers don’t have one yet. It must have come from York and Marathe.

This weekend will be Shanahan’s opportunity to gauge York and Marathe’s expectations. To find out where they really stand. To find out if they’re competent. To see if they’ll be patient. To get their word they will be. And to decide if their word is even worth trusting.

Would you trust it?

Grant Cohn writes sports columns and the “Inside the 49ers” blog for The Press Democrat’s website. You can reach him at grantcohn@gmail.com.