San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has been to the Super Bowl twice in his coaching career, once as the offensive coordinator with the Atlanta Falcons following the 2016 season, and once as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers following the 2019 season. They both ended in heartbreaking fashion.
Both the Atlanta Falcons and the San Francisco 49ers lost those Super Bowls despite holding fourth-quarter leads with the Falcons falling to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots and the Niners falling to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. And as he prepares his team for Super Bowl LVIII, he obviously has that in the back of his mind.
“I’ve been able to coach in two Super Bowls and to lose either of them, both of them are heartbreaking,” Shanahan said according to Pro Football Talk. “It’s all about getting back there again and that’s what I’m excited about today.”
Nothing is going to completely erase the past, but Shanahan has a chance to feel a lot better about those missed opportunities if he can win a Super Bowl title this year. Either that or it will be another year of coming so close but failing.
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