Kyle Shanahan’s Quest for Super Bowl 2024 Victory and Family Legacy: The Influence of His Father’s Success on the Game

Super Bowls can define legacies, a fact that is surely not lost on Kyle Shanahan. The San Francisco 49ers’ head coach can do a lot for his own legacy if his team defeats the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII. For starters, Kyle would join his dad Mike Shanahan as head coaches who have hoisted a Vince Lombardi Trophy. 

If that happens, the Shanahan’s would become the first father-son duo to win Super Bowls as head coaches. The timing would be appropriate, as Shanahan’s Denver Broncos recently celebrated the silver anniversary of their second of back-to-back titles. 

The younger Shanahan had a front row seat to his dad’s success. Go back and watch Super Bowls XXXII, and you’ll see an 18-year old Kyle Shanahan holding his dad’s microphone wires as Denver shocked the defending champion Packers in Super Bowl XXXII. 

If the 49ers defeat the Chiefs, Kyle Shanahan will join his dad on the short list of coaches who have defeated the defending champs in a Super Bowl. Here’s the entire list, one that includes some pretty big names. 

• *Chuck Noll, Steelers — defeated Cowboys in SB XIII 
• *Tom Flores, Raiders — defeated Washington in SB XVIII
• Kyle Shanahan, Broncos — defeated Packers in SB XXXII
• Bill Belichick, Patriots — defeated Seahawks in SB XLIX 
• Doug Pederson, Eagles — defeated Patriots in SB LII 
• Bruce Arians, Chiefs — defeated Chiefs in Super Bowl LV 

* denotes members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame 

As you can see, Shanahan is not currently in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Click here if you want to read more about that and why his place in Canton, Ohio is long overdue. If the 49ers win, don’t be surprised if Shanahan’s case picks up more steam, given that his son is part of his coaching tree. 

Speaking of Mike Shanahan’s coaching tree, there aren’t many that can rival it. Seven of his former assistant coaches became head coaches in the NFL. That includes son Kyle along with other current NFL head coaches Sean McVay, Matt LaFleur and Mike McDaniel. If the 49ers in on Sunday, Kyle Shanahan would follow McVay and former Broncos coach Gary Kubiak as head coaches from Mike Shanahan’s tree that have won Super Bowls. 

There’s a common thread among members of Shanahan’s coaching tree, and that’s their approach to offense. Each one is considered an offensive guru who has parlayed their expertise into successful head coaching career. Each one, however, has adapted their own offensive philosophy that makes it unique. McDaniels uses a lot of exotic formations, while McVay is a fan of play-action rollouts. LeFleur employs more of a traditional West Coast offense that focuses on spreading the wealth. 

Not surprisingly, none of Shanahan’s former assistants has employed an offense more similar to his than Kyle. Specifically, Kyle has fully adopted his dad’s zone blocking scheme that dominated the NFL in the late ’90s behind Hall of Fame running back Terrell Davis. 

(Super Bowl LVII will be broadcast on CBS and Nickelodeon and you can stream it on Paramount+; here’s how to watch)

Like Mike had with Davis, Kyle has his own elite running back in Christian McCaffrey, whose dad, Ed, was an extremely productive receiver on those Broncos teams in the late ’90s. Like his dad with with Davis in those Super Bowls, Kyle should lean heavily on his talented running back Sunday against the Chiefs. 

How Shanahan specifically uses McCaffrey, however, is another question. Mike Shanahan used Davis differently in the Broncos’ two Super Bowl wins. Davis was a bell cow in Super Bowl XXXII, toting the rock 30 times for 157 yards and three touchdowns despite missing virtually the entire second quarter after suffering a migraine. Davis had just over 100 rushing yards in Super Bowl XXXIII, but he was mostly used as a decoy, which allowed John Elway to have an MVP performance in what was his final game. 

Expect Shanahan to use McCaffrey in a similar way. While he will get significant work against the 49ers, expect McCaffrey at times to be used as a decoy in an effort to get the 49ers’ other skill players involved, at least in the game’s first three quarters. If the game is close in the fourth quarter, expect Shanahan to routinely call McCaffrey’s number. 

His father aside, a win over the 49ers will do wonders for Shanahan and his career. Fair or not, he has been labeled by some as a coach who can’t seal the deal. He was the Falcons’ offensive coordinator when Atlanta blew a 28-3 lead in Super Bowl LI. Three years later, the 49ers held a 10-point lead in Super Bowl LVI before the Chiefs scored three touchdowns in the game’s final 6 minutes, 13 seconds. 

Shanahan can erase that narrative with a win on Sunday. In the process, he’ll join his dad as a world champion, and possibly as a Hall of Fame coach sometime down the line.