NBC Ranks 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan the NFL's 4th-Best Head Coach

Kyle Shanahan is a good head coach. Just how good is up for debate.

He's the highest-paid and most famous head coach in North American sports who hasn't won a Championship, although he's been to three -- two as a head coach and one as a coordinator. And as a coordinator, he's outstanding. One of the best in the league.

As a head coach, he hasn't shown he can win the big one even when he has the best roster in the league as he did in 2023 when the 49ers had a whopping nine players rank in the NFL's top 100.

And yet, NBC's Patrick Daugherty recently ranked Kyle Shanahan the fourth-best head coach in the NFL after Andy Reid, Sean McVay and John Harbaugh and ahead of Nick Sirianni, Jim Harbaugh, Dan Campbell, Mike Tomlin and Sean McDermott.

"Kyle Shanahan lost 10 games for the fourth time in eight years as head coach last season," writes Daugherty. "Yes, that’s easier to do now with the 17-game schedule, but Shanahan’s first three double-digit loss totals came under the old 16-game format, while he got there with a game to spare last year. Bill Belichick also had four 10-loss campaigns … in 29 seasons. Andy Reid has had two in 26.

"There’s a natural volatility to Shanahan’s game because he is the game. This offense, and by extension team, lives and dies with Shanahan’s play calling, and in years where the 49ers are banged up, there are suddenly too many replacement-level players trying to execute the highest-level scheme. The 49ers stayed healthy in 2023 and made the Super Bowl. They got injury walloped in 2024 and made the draft lottery. It really is that simple.

"When the coach is this important, there’s an inherent fragility. There’s also an upside you can’t find elsewhere. In an era where legendary quarterbacks are fueling some of the most imposing dynasties in American sports history, Shanahan has made Super Bowls with Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock Purdy. He took Matt Ryan from the Hall-of-Very-Good to an outlier MVP campaign in 2016. Shanny is just that good. You will have to forgive him if sometimes his roster isn’t."

With all due respect to Daugherty, I disagree with his analysis.

You can't just write off last season as an injury-filled disaster for the 49ers. They still had lots of good players who were healthy, which is how their offense gained the fourth-most yards in the league and their defense gave up the eighth-fewest yards last season.

The 49ers' problem was that almost every time they found themselves in a close game in the fourth quarter, they lost. It's like they couldn't help but repeat their Super Bowl collapse. They were haunted.

And that's why I wouldn't rank Shanahan in the top 5. Sure, he has gone to two Super Bowls with the 49ers, but that's partially because he's in the NFC, which is the weaker conference. If he were in the AFC, he'd be Sean McDermott, who's 0-4 against the Chiefs in the playoffs. Shanahan is 0-2 against them.