The Chicago Bears have the worst reputation when it comes to identifying quality head coaches. That has never been clearer than during the past decade. Marc Trestman, John Fox, Matt Nagy, and now Matt Eberflus have encompassed their existence since 2013. Multiple GMs and team presidents have tried to help George McCaskey fix the problem without any success. Now Kevin Warren and Ryan Poles will give it a shot. Both know their jobs may hinge on this decision. Could that mean they decided to go after the biggest name possible? Enter Kyle Shanahan.
It sounds crazy to think the San Francisco 49ers head coach is in any danger. He just went to the Super Bowl last season, coming an overtime away from winning it. However, a bitter loss combined with his team’s plummet to a 5-7 record this season have left some wondering if he’s run his course with that organization. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk thinks the possibility is there that a strong enough push from another team could convince the 49ers to trade for the head coach. He explained on 670 The Score.
Kyle Shanahan is as proven as they come.
Since taking over the 49ers in 2017, he has had four winning seasons and two Super Bowl appearances. He managed this with two different quarterbacks (Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock Purdy). Each of those four playoff runs resulted in at least a conference championship game appearance. There is no denying Shanahan is a successful head coach. So why would San Francisco part ways? Well, sometimes things run their course. As Florio pointed out, that same franchise and owner almost traded Jim Harbaugh in 2014, right after he’d just gone to his third consecutive NFC championship.
So don’t think for a second that organization wouldn’t consider the idea.
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Kyle Shanahan has ties to Illinois. His father, Mike Shanahan, was born in Franklin Park and played and coached at Eastern Illinois. The family has roots in the region. If the head coach is open to a change of scenery, the Bears make plenty of sense. They have a young team with lots of talent on both sides of the ball. Most importantly, they have a quarterback who eclipses any Shanahan has worked with since his brief stint with Matt Ryan in 2015 and 2016. Chicago has plenty of draft capital to make such a deal work. It comes down to if the 49ers and Shanahan himself are open to the idea.
Dream come true for me! This guy can create easy offense. He hasent had a QB which is why he overpaid for Lance. Would be best case scenario. 🙏
Consider this, Dr. Mel, Andy Reid learned to not overpay for the WR position, trading away T. Hill. How much influence did Shanny have in strapping the team down with the Deebo/Aiyuk contracts? Holdouts hurt the offense, that season is shot. I’d like for the organization to have a similar mindset as GB regarding WRs. I don’t like “name” WRs influencing the QB’s targets in a game. I’ve said it before on here, Brady’s favorite receiver was the open one. I’d bet Mahomes would agree. Don’t get me wrong, Shanny is a good offensive coach, but I wouldn’t pay for… Read more »
I would remind y’all that Andy Reid coached the Eagles for 14 seasons, and was let go because he just made it to one Super Bowl (losing to Brady and the Pats), and lost 4 other NFC championship games. He also made the playoffs 9 of those 14 seasons, a pretty solid record of success. After being fired by the Eagles, he was almost immediately hired by the Chiefs, and has since won 3 Super Bowls there with Mahomes. So if y’all think Kyle Shanihan would be a bad hire because he never won the big game, consider that he… Read more »
Were doomed Bears fans, just turned December and we are already hearing from insiders.
Does that mean Ben is now #2 on the wish list?
A lot of this hinges on the Thomas Brown experiment. What would Poles have to see?
Quite likely nothing more than a thumbs up from Caleb and a defense that flips a switch in the remaining games. Billings is missed but overall it looked like they held back just enough to get Flus fired since Wash. That could change in SF.