With no remaining vacancies, Bieniemy, who is black, and Saleh, who is Arab-American, probably will have to wait another year for their first head-coaching jobs. That has caused mixed feelings for the people they work with.

Coach Andy Reid of the Chiefs said that he is Bieniemy’s biggest fan, and that he already considers his protégé to be a head coach.

“I really don’t think he needs to work on anything to become a head football coach,” Reid said. “I think he’s ready to go. He just needs that opportunity to get in and go.”

John Lynch, the general manager of the 49ers, expressed similar sentiments about Saleh, who won a Super Bowl as a quality control coach with Seattle on his way through the coaching ranks before rising to defensive coordinator with San Francisco in 2017.

“There’s a side of you that is disappointed for a friend,” Lynch said. “There is a side of you that’s like: ‘Yes! We get him for another year!’”

George Kittle and football’s ‘best possible feeling.’

George Kittle, the 49ers’ third-year tight end, seems to save his best work for overmatched players in the opposing team’s secondary. And he admits that is by design.

Kittle’s most important play against a defensive back this season came in Week 14, when he dragged his team into range for a winning field goal against the New Orleans Saints despite Marcus Williams, a safety, hanging on for dear life from Kittle’s face mask. But Kittle’s most fun play of the season — at least from his perspective — came during a Week 15 loss to the Atlanta Falcons when he demolished a cornerback on a goal-line run — and was filmed laughing maniacally while rolling around in the end zone.