Over the last two head-coaching cycles, NFL owners have been falling all over themselves to find the next Sean McVay. And after the Los Angeles Rams’ turnaround in 2017 and Super Bowl run in 2018, that made plenty of sense.
But during that time, little was said about San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan, another young head coach with offensive chops, someone who could coach quarterbacks and had great bloodlines to boot. Oh, he had respect across the league, but after the 49ers’ disappointing in 2018 — in which star quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo got hurt early and the team limped to a 4-12 finish — you weren’t necessarily hearing the “we’ve got to find the next Kyle Shanahan” talk.