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Mike Silver, a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and longtime NFL writer and analyst, has known the San Francisco coach for over two decades and remembers the first time he spoke with a 15-year-old Shanahan.
Silver was following Mike Shanahan, Kyle’s father, when he served as head coach of the Denver Broncos and, after practice one day, he got some one-on-one time with the younger Shanahan.
“I remember it vividly,” Silver explains, adding they never once spoke about football. “I was like: ‘Dude, what’s it like to be in high school?’ We were talking about movies and comedies and all sorts of stuff.”
While Silver could not have predicted Shanahan’s success during that conversation, ever since that moment, he has followed his career closely. With the pair now both in San Francisco, he has a first row seat for the 44-year-old’s debut head coaching job.
After making waves in various offensive roles throughout the league, Shanahan quickly rose to prominence and, in 2017, was named to his first ever head coaching job with the 49ers.
So far, Shanahan has enjoyed an incredibly successful time in the Bay Area: a Super Bowl appearance in the 2019 season was followed by back-to-back NFC Championship Games in 2022 and 2023.
However, Shanahan and San Francisco have always fallen slightly short of the ultimate goal – winning a Super Bowl title – something Silver says needs to be changed to cement the head coach’s legacy with the franchise.
“He has to win a ring,” Silver explains. “Nobody’s going to say he hasn’t done an incredible job. They’ve been to four conference title games in five years, they have an incredible collection of talent and they’ve done a lot of cool things … but he’s going to have to get this one or another one later.
“It’s a cruel, cruel world,” Silver says of the NFL’s harsh expectations of greatness. “But, you know, it’s even crueler with Patrick Mahomes standing between you and the awards podium, that’s no fun.”
Despite the losses, the ability to produce multiple deep playoff runs has stood out during Shanahan’s time in charge.
This consistency has been built on the offensive play calling and innovativeness of the head coach.
“I think if you gave truth serum to the other really, really smart coaches who are great at calling plays and creating plays and scheming it up, probably he’d win the vote as to who’s the most advanced,” Silver outlines.
Not only does Shanahan impress with his play calls, but he is blessed with one of the finest offenses in the NFL, including star skill position players in Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle and quarterback Brock Purdy.
