San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is going about things so normally that’s it’s easy to forget he was involved in a very serious car accident just a month ago, which left him with severe injuries.
While we should all just be thankful he’s OK, naturally the news cycle moves on and larger questions about his legacy and how he measures up against other great Niners coaches come back to the fore.
In a recent interview with former 49ers head coach Steve Mariucci, conducted through casino.org/us, Niner Noise submitted a question to be asked of Mooch regarding Shanahan’s legacy with San Francisco, specifically what it would take for him to be considered the greatest 49ers coach ever.
Unsurprisingly, Mariucci said Shanahan will have to win Super Bowls and get a lot more wins. But towards the end of his answer he alluded to an outcome that Niners fans would view as a nightmare:
To me, it could be like the Andy Reid situation in Philadelphia. He had great success there, then they changed coaches, he went somewhere else and had great success. He went to Kansas City and built a dynasty.
Mooch also made sure to say that the Niners could win a Super Bowl under Shanahan, but one cannot shake the feeling they’ve already blown their best opportunities. The Niners could have easily won either one of those Super Bowls against the Kansas City Chiefs and should have come away with at least one of them.
He’s still a good enough coach, and San Francisco has enough talent that they should be able to make the playoffs the next few years. But if the 49ers cannot replace their aging corps of veterans with adequate players, then an eventual decline seems inevitable.
If Shanahan did depart without winning a Super Bowl with the Niners, it would be truly tragic. He’s done literally everything except win a Super Bowl with the franchise, so it would be the ultimate shame if they cannot get it done with him at the helm.
If he were to go on to a different franchise and enjoyed a run like Reid did, that would just rub salt in the wound. Sometimes coaches need to go to a different situation to get the monkey of their back, and it certainly doesn’t hurt when the team drafts one of the greatest quarterbacks ever like Patrick Mahomes.
It’s not fun to think about, but Mariucci is simply echoing something that 49ers fans fear, whether they want to admit it or not.
Let’s hope it doesn’t come to pass, but we have to be prepared for the possibility.
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