Santa Clara >> Kyle Shanahan is changing out the team’s defensive coordinators for the fourth time in five years.

Nick Sorensen, like his immediate predecessor Steve Wilks, won’t return to that role after one season in it, a league source confirmed. Sorensen could be retained on Shanahan’s staff in another capacity for a fourth season.

The last-place 49ers (6-11) failed to generate turnovers with a defense that was a step too slow and out of place. In its closing act, Sorensen’s unit allowed a season-high 47 points and produced no takeaways or sacks in Sunday’s 47-24 defeat at Arizona.

NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco first reported Sorensen’s ouster.

The 49ers had no interceptions over their final seven games (six losses), and they recovered one fumble in their final 11 games (or two over their final 13).

“It’s not good enough. It’s hard to win games when you’re in the minus all the time or you’re just not taking the ball away,” Sorensen said last week. “We haven’t done our part there pretty much half the season.”

Sorensen’s removal follows Monday night’s firing of special teams coordinator Brian Schneider.

Among the DC candidates available: Jeff Ulbrich (formerly the New York Jets’ interim coach and a former 49ers linebacker, Gus Bradley (formerly the Indianapolis Colts’ DC) and Robert Saleh, who parlayed his term as 49ers defensive coordinator (2017-20) into a head-coaching role with the Jets, who relieved him four games into this fourth and final season.

DeMeco Ryans, who succeeded Saleh as the 49ers’ DC for two years, has led the Houston Texans to consecutive AFC South titles.

The 49ers had new starters throughout their front seven besides mainstays Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, while communication and assignment breakdowns littered the youthful secondary.

Special teams coordinator Schneider is fired >> The 49ers fired special teams coordinator Brian Schneider, the first move made by Shanahan in the postseason.

Schneider’s units were a year-long problem that contributed to one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history.

Place kicker Jake Moody slumped badly after missing three games with a high ankle sprain and ended up missing 10 of his 34 field-goal attempts. His 70.6 field-goal percentage was 35th of 39 NFL kickers this season. Punter Mitch Wishnowsky lasted nine games before he was sidelined with a back issue.

The 49ers coverage units were also ineffective, at one point losing both Moody and Matthew Wright, his replacement, when the kickers were forced to tackle on returns that had broken into the clear.

Schneider’s dismissal was first reported by ESPN’s Nick Wagoner and was confirmed by a league source. Schneider, 53, coached three seasons for the 49ers after Shanahan fired Richard Hightower.