The San Francisco 49ers’ victory against the Green Bay Packers in the NFL playoffs gave head coach Kyle Shanahan an important comeback victory. The 44-year-old often lost out in tight situations. The reasons for this are diverse.
Kyle Shanahan is undoubtedly one of the most talented and influential coaches in the NFL. His coaching tree is spreading more and more throughout the league. If you add the decades-long activities of his father Mike, who was active as a head coach in the NFL until 2013, the influence of the Shanahan family is probably greater than that of many franchise owners. But as talented as Kyle Shanahan may be, he has long had a reputation for hesitating or even failing in important moments.
Before the San Francisco 49ers’ divisional round game against the Green Bay Packers, the Niners had not managed to win a game in seven years under head coach Shanahan when they were down by five or more points at the beginning of the fourth quarter were. There were a total of 30 defeats in such situations – until the game in the “Big Bellbottom” against the Packers and a winning drive from the otherwise weak quarterback Brock Purdy, which the tireless Christian McCaffrey brought into the end zone.
Shanahan was also relieved because the 44-year-old, who is actually so self-confident, is of course aware of his own past and that of his team. Maybe the Packers, who have often failed in the playoffs against the Niners, were exactly the right opponent. Shanahan’s personal trauma with narrow defeats, especially in the postseason, began during his time as offensive coordinator. While with the Atlanta Falcons, he made Matt Ryan look like a world-class passer, but failed in Super Bowl LI against the New England Patriots, who famously made up a 25-point deficit.
Playoff defeats cannot always be attributed to the coaches. The Niners’ Super Bowl defeat against Kansas City in February 2020, for example, depended primarily on a strong 21-point final spurt by the Chiefs, during which Nick Bosa was temporarily on the sidelines due to injury. Last year too, the playoff exit was partly due to a few injuries. This season, however, this justification does not apply in the event of an elimination against the Detroit Lions at the weekend. Because the Niners are firing on all cylinders, have a versatility like a Swiss army knife on offense and have been excellent defensively since the Javon Hargrave trade and are now very deep with Chase Young.
NFL: Opposing coaches adjust to Shanahan system
In general, the question still arises as to why Shanahan seems to have a bit of playoff yips. On the one hand there is the way he manages a game. He now tends to play it safe, especially trying a punt or a field goal on 4th down, instead of going all out like other coaches. There’s no telling what would have happened if Purdy hadn’t turned a 3rd-and-5 at his own 47-yard line into a first down with a skin-tight pass to Brandon Aiyuk in the final quarter against the Packers. Shanahan may even have been a little branded by the Super Bowl loss to the Patriots, when he was criticized for his aggressive play calling in the aftermath.
At the same time, Shanahan has been somewhat handicapped in recent years because of his quarterbacks. Neither Purdy nor Jimmy Garoppolo have the power to pass the ball into the second level of the defense with relative consistency. When Purdy doesn’t try a short pass to his top receivers, but instead looks for receivers after deep dropbacks or outside the numbers, many Niners fans hold their breath. Basically, San Francisco has long been a strange location when it comes to the quarterback position, even before Shanahan’s arrival in 2017. The last undisputed elite quarterback was Steve Young in the 1990s – and before that, Joe Montana ruled the Bay Area.
Another point that makes Shanahan’s life a lot more difficult is his own success as a coach and, above all, as a trainer supporter. His “students” are now spread across the entire league. An offensive coordinator from the Shanahan Tree is almost considered a kind of cheat code to increase the quarterback’s performance. But of course this means that the defensive coordinator and head coaches have to deal with the Shanahan system. Mike Macdonald in particular, the DC of the Baltimore Ravens, is currently considered kryptonite for the Shanahan students and perhaps also for Shanahan himself. He was able to prove this again just a few days ago when he fought the duel with Bobby Slowik, the offensive coordinator of the Houston Texans and Shanahan’s former offensive passing game coordinator.
The Shanahan Coaching Tree
In the playoffs, the 44-year-old head coach of the Niners also has to deal primarily with the crème de la crème of the coaching guild, who, unlike perhaps the rest of the NFL, could find some means against Shanahan. His constant presence in the playoffs and, not least, his influence in the league have put a target on his back. But excuses don’t apply to the Niners’ brain, neither in the upcoming NFC Championship Game against the Detroit Lions (Monday night, 12:30 a.m. live on RTL), nor in a possible Super Bowl against Baltimore or Kansas City.
Constantine Eckner