The San Francisco 49ers and head coach Kyle Shanahan are among the favorites to contend for the Super Bowl this upcoming season after the team fell just shy of a title this season, falling to the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime at LVIII. But as one stat indicates, history is not necessarily on their side.
As Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk points out, Kyle Shanahan has now gone 0-3 in his first three attempts to win a Super Bowl. That’s perhaps a bad omen as no coach or coordinator has ever won a Super Bowl after going 0-3 in his first three tries.
“Kyle Shanahan lost his first Super Bowl appearance as the Falcons’ offensive coordinator after the 2016 season. And he has now lost two Super Bowls as the 49ers’ head coach. And that 0-3 start in Super Bowls is something no head coach or coordinator before him has overcome to win a Super Bowl,” Smith wrote for Pro Football Talk.
“Shanahan is the fifth head coach or coordinator in NFL history to start his career 0-3 in Super Bowls, and none of the others ever won a Super Bowl, according to NFL Research.”
Needless to say, this is pretty bad news for Shanahan and the Niners, and it led to a lot of reactions on social media.
Unless he can adjust and change the way he coaches after halftime, he’ll never win one https://t.co/nb5i8PGehw
— Jason Mowry (@jmowry11) July 10, 2024
The Loss as a Offensive Coordinator was The MOST ATROCIOUS LOSS IN SUPER BOWL HISTORY.
UP 28-3 IN THE 2ND HALF AND THIS CLOWN🤡 IS STILL CALLING PASS PLAY 3 AND OUT STOP THE CLOCK DRIVES AND THAT MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE COST THE ATLANTA FALCONS THEIR 1ST SUPER BOWL AS THEY LOST!
— PAPI (@Papi_Golf) July 10, 2024
Yet he never gets held accountable for atrocious play calling in all 3 SBs in the 2nd half or who he decides to use/not use in the big moments.
Great coach, but for some reason he always gets a pass for absolutely choking multiple SBs away with elite teams.
— Alex_Walsh (@alexwalsh6) July 10, 2024
Best in the game at preparing when he has a week, one of the worst at preparing or making adjustments in game. The best coaches are all excellent at the latter. You have to be able to adjust on the fly
— ㅤ (@BAShelley) July 10, 2024
He’ll remain ring-less. Karma for selling that falcons superbowl
— 🙁 (offseason) (@RvndomUsername) July 10, 2024
Not onlu 0-3, blew solid leads, tremendous situations all 3 Super Bowls
Niners were lucky just to get there last year and that could be last chance for this roster, but they are contenders and will cover their spreads in several games early this season— MZiegelheim (@pastposttime) July 10, 2024
We’ll have to see whether or not Shanahan can prove this omen wrong.
