When Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers won on Sunday, it represented the first postseason win of his coaching career -- and the ninth for the Shanahan family, as Mike Shanahan won eight postseason games, including two Super Bowls, during his tenure as a head coach.
The Shanahans are now the second father-son duo in NFL history to win in the postseason as head coaches. The first were Bum Phillips, who won four playoff games with the Houston Oilers in the 1970s, and his son Wade Phillips, who has one postseason win as a head coach, with the 2009 Cowboys.
Wade Phillips never made it past the divisional round of the playoffs, so the Shanahans are the first father and son duo ever who both led a team to a conference championship game.
Few professions give opportunities to the sons of successful fathers like football coaching. In addition to Mike and Kyle Shanahan and Bum and Wade Phillips, four other father-son duos have been NFL head coaches: Jim Mora Sr. and Jr., Dick and Mike Nolan, Buddy and Rex Ryan and Don and Dave Shula.