History not in favor of 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan's Super Bowl aspirations

Three head coaches have led the San Francisco 49ers to multiple Super Bowls in the franchise’s history: Bill Walsh, George Siefert, and Kyle Shanahan.

Regrettably for Shanahan, he is the sole coach in that elite group to have lost a Super Bowl and, more worryingly, the only one to have never claimed a victory in one.

Despite all the success Shanahan’s 49ers have achieved, winning the Lombardi Trophy has remained elusive. Unfortunately, history is not in favour of the 44-year old, as per NFL Research.

After the 49ers’ Super Bowl LVIII overtime defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs, Shanahan joined the ranks of five coaches in NFL history to lose their first three Super Bowl appearances, either as a head coach or coordinator, according to NFL Research. Notably, none of the other four coaches have ever clinched a Super Bowl victory.

Shanahan joins an esteemed group including Marv Levy of the Buffalo Bills, Bud Grant of the Minnesota Vikings, Ted Marchibroda who worked as an offensive coordinator with Washington and Buffalo, and Jerry Burns, a longstanding defensive coordinator for the Vikings. Levy and Grant are in the Hall of Fame, while Marchibroda and Burns are highly respected, yet none of them achieved Lombardi glory.

For Shanahan, his past is filled with major game disappointments, which as previously mentioned, does not promise a positive future.

In all of Shanahan’s Super Bowl losses, his teams had a 10-point lead before ultimately losing. This includes Super Bowl LI, where he was the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons against the Patriots, and Super Bowls LIV and LVIII, where he was the head coach of the 49ers against the Chiefs. Notably, these losses featured the only two overtime games in Super Bowl history. Shanahan’s offenses have consistently struggled in crucial moments, as demonstrated by a total of nine offensive points in the fourth quarter across these games.

Shanahan has an 8-4 record in the playoffs throughout his head coaching career, giving him a .667 winning percentage. According to NFL Research, this is the highest winning percentage in league history for a coach who has not won an NFL Championship or Super Bowl.

The 49ers have made it to seven conference title games since 2010, leading the NFC in this respect. Despite this, they have a 3-4 record in these games and have not secured any Super Bowl victories. During the same period, only the Patriots and Chiefs have also made six or more appearances in the championship round, with each team winning three Super Bowl titles.

The 49ers emerged as the NFL’s team of the 1980s, winning four Super Bowls during that decade and securing another victory to achieve a 5-0 record in their first five Super Bowl appearances. However, the team has suffered losses in its last three Super Bowl games.

The 49ers are once more Super Bowl contenders going into the 2024 season, equipped with Pro Bowl talent on both defense and offense.

Will this season see San Francisco reclaiming the NFL pinnacle and Shanahan finally overcoming his obstacles? Or has past events already hinted at a less favorable journey forward.