Who is Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers’ head coach? Coaching record and Super Bowl appearances

As one of the best coaches in the NFL today, the Niners’ man in charge has kept the team at the top of the pile for a few seasons now. The question is, just who is the Niners’ tactician and what has he achieved in his career so far?

Kyle Shanahan’s journey to the top.

Given that his father, Mike Shanahan, was a two-time winning Super Bowl head coach, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Kyle Shanahan is one of the NFL’s best today, and that’s not the only romantic aspect of Shanahan’s rise to the top either. Consider for a moment that in his first season as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, the 44-year-old posted a 0-9 record, which was promptly followed by an 8-0 just a year later. Indeed, he became just the third coach in NFL history to spearhead such an instantaneous turnaround. Here and now, he stands just one win away from a Super Bowl title and to add a piece of poetic justice, one win away from righting the wrong of the 49ers Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs back in 2020. Below you can take a look at Shanahan’s journey so far:

Kyle Shanahan’s CV

As you can surely see, Shanahan has served in some capacity with five different NFL franchises prior to landing his first head coaching gig. This is to say that we are talking about a seasoned professional. From those early days with the Bucs, it’s clear that he put in the work to secure a role as an offensive coordinator with the Houston Texans. It was there that the rest of the league began to take notice which subsequently led to a role with the then-Washington Redskins as the team’s OC. Next came Cleveland and Atlanta and then finally, on the back of excellent work, a head coaching role in the Bay Area in 2017.

OK, but what’s Kyle Shanahan’s record?

In total, Shanahan has registered a 72-54 record as a head coach, and that includes post-season games. Now, you might be inclined to say that a 57% win rate is not anything to shout about, but when you factor in the idea that he won a total of ten games in his first two seasons, the picture starts to look a little different. To be clear, the 49ers have won more than 70% of their games in the last five seasons. Then, there’s the fact that they’ve clinched the NFC West title in each of those campaigns. This of course brings us to his postseason record which currently stands at a 72% win rate. In the last five seasons, he and his men have won two NFC champions which in turn has led them to two Super Bowl appearances.

So, how many Super Bowls has Kyle Shanahan won?

That is indeed the only thing that likely keeps Shanahan out of the conversation of the league’s best at the moment, the fact that he has yet to win a Super Bowl. When his 49ers meet the Chiefs this coming Sunday, February 11th, it will be a rematch of the aforementioned Super Bowl which was lost to the Chiefs 31-20 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida. Needless to say, both he and his charges will be itching to return the favor. The only question that remains at this point is whether he can exact revenge on the Chiefs, or will he continue to give the doubters fuel to add to their fire.