After the 49ers qualified for Super Bowl LIV, I made the case that coach Kyle Shanahan could become his generation’s Bill Belichick. Shanahan could still indeed do it, but there’s more work to be done.
Shanahan has put together one of the best teams in the NFL; there’s no disputing that. G.M. John Lynch seems to have a knack for finding players who play the game with the same passion and abandon that he did, giving the 49ers a band of roughnecks who will roll out of bed and knock someone on their ass. Or run through a brick wall. Or both.
The problem has been the position that Shanahan has made his speciality — quarterback. He opted not to scout Patrick Mahomes in 2017, assuming the team would sign Kirk Cousins in free agency a year later. Then, before they could sign Cousins, the 49ers traded for Jimmy Garoppolo, who could not consistently stay healthy.
Shanahan became sufficiently exasperated by Garoppolo’s inability to be available that the team grossly overreacted, ultimately investing three first-round picks and a third-round pick in Trey Lance, who through two seasons has been a disappointment, and who could be the third-string option when the season rolls around.
If Shanahan had either scouted (and selected) Mahomes or waited for Cousins, the 49ers quite possibly would have two or more additional Lombardi Trophies to go with their prior five. And Shanahan would be No. 1 on this list or damn close to it.
Shanahan will go higher up this list once the quarterback situation is stabilized with someone (Brock Purdy, Sam Darnold, or maybe Cousins) who doesn’t need to carry the team to a championship, but who is good enough to be swept there by a wave of great players.
For now, with a 52-46 regular-season record and one Super Bowl appearance in six NFL seasons, Shanahan sits at No. 8.
