San Francisco 49ers: Kyle Shanahan vs. Rams’ Sean McVay is Niners’ best new rivalry
By Peter Panacy
The San Francisco 49ers have lacked a true rival since the Jim Harbaugh years, although head coaches Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams seem to be changing that.
Round 1 of the renewed NFC West rivalry between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams went to first-year head coach Sean McVay instead of fellow rookie coach Kyle Shanahan.
This, after the Rams narrowly escaped the Niners’ valiant comeback in Week 3 on Thursday Night Football.
In truth, though, it’s good San Francisco lost this contest and for a number of reasons.
San Francisco 49ers
Amid all the talk of how a loss here impacts the Niners’ long-term plans is the brewing rivalry between Shanahan and McVay.
McVay, 31 years old, has ties to the 49ers. His grandfather, John, held various positions with San Francisco during the team’s glory years of the 1980s and 1990s. There’s a good reason the Niners named their draft room at Levi’s Stadium after John.
Shanahan and the younger McVay also have ties with the Washington Redskins. McVay served under Shanahan, who was named the team’s offensive coordinator in 2010, as assistant tight ends coach — eventually being promoted to tight ends coach the following year.
And with Shanahan being 37 years old, this tandem comprises the youngest two head coaches in the NFL right now.
All said, it’s good for the 49ers to have a true rival again.
Geographic Rivalries
The Rams and Niners used to have a nice little rivalry before the former moved to St. Louis in 1995.
Anyone familiar with the geographic differences between Northern and Southern California can speak to the natural rivalry. In Major League Baseball, the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers have a heated rivalry. So do the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings of the NBA, or the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors.
So when the Rams moved back to L.A. before the 2016 season, the groundwork was set for a renewed rivalry between these two NFL franchises.
49ers Haven’t Had a True Rival for a While
The last time San Francisco had a real NFL rivalry was during former head coach Jim Harbaugh’s tenure, namely with head coach Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks.
In 2014, though, Seattle started to dominate this rivalry, and Harbaugh was out by the end of the year.
Over the following two years, with former head coaches Jim Tomsula and Chip Kelly overseeing a scuffling Niners franchise, this rivalry died. Sure, die-hard fans will recollect memories of the 2014 NFC Championship game. But that’s ancient history when considering the parity the NFL offers.
Another factor comes into play here.
Both the Rams and 49ers would have to be, you know, good to make any rivalry hold its ground. One-sided rivalries, or rivalries between two bad teams, aren’t particularly interesting.
More from Niner Noise
- Predicting 49ers NFL Draft picks by looking at final mocks
- DraftKings NFL Draft Promo – Win $150 Guaranteed on Any $5 Bet
- 2023 NFL Draft: EDGE Byron Young could be impact player for 49ers
- 5 low-key NFL Draft options for 49ers who are flying under the radar
- Updated 49ers salary cap space ahead of 2023 NFL Draft
Let’s say L.A. never hired McVay as head coach, instead letting former head coach Jeff Fisher continue to run the show. Most Rams fans probably would agree their team would still be pretty bad right now.
Same goes if Tomsula, Kelly or former Niners general manager Trent Baalke was still in charge.
Instead, McVay and Shanahan are both engineering rebuilds for their respective franchises. The Rams are a bit further ahead than the 49ers right now, although the roots are in place for what looks to be a budding rivalry between these two coaches and their teams.
Next: Ranking the 49ers' best rivalries of all time
It’s much needed, for both L.A. and San Francisco, and we might be witnessing the blossoming of these two figures clashing for a very long time.