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In the 2024 Super Bowl, the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs gear up to face each other in the biggest football game around the world. Two teams means two franchises, two quarterbacks, and two coaches. The two coaches that squared off were Kyle Shanahan, the forty-four year old head coach of the 49ers, and Andy Reid, the Chief’s sixty-five year old veteran coach. What led these two men to the Super Bowl?
Kyle Shanahan comes from football legacy. His father, Mike Shanahan, spent some time coaching the Los Angeles Raiders and the Washington Commanders (the then Washington Redskins), but he spent the majority of his career serving as the head coach of the Denver Broncos (1995-2008), winning Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII. Though many critics think that Kyle Shanahan only got to where he is in the league because of his father, he says otherwise. In an interview with the Denver Post in 2006, he said, “I studied every potential X’s and O’s play and issue possible. I spent my whole life working on that. My goal was that any question a player could have about anything on the field, I’d be able to answer it.”
When he decided he wanted to be a coach, the younger Shanahan took a position at UCLA. However, he only stayed for a year so that he could focus on graduate school. Soon after, he entered the NFL as a position coach for the Houston Texans, becoming the youngest offensive coordinator in the league at just 28 years old.
After serving a stint with the Washington Redskins as offensive coordinator alongside his father, Shanahan went to the Cleveland Browns and then the Atlanta Falcons as offensive coordinator. The young coach still hadn’t been to a Super Bowl, but that all changed during Super Bowl LI. In this game, the Patriots beat Shanahan’s team 34-28, after coming back from a 28-3 deficit in the third quarter.
In 2020, Shanahan returned to the Super Bowl as Head Coach for the 49ers. Like Super Bowl LVIII, the 49ers went against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, ending in the Chiefs winning 31-20.
In Shanahan’s seven seasons coaching the 49ers, he has reached the playoffs four times, and in the last three years he has reached the conference title games.
Even though Shanahan has lost the two Super Bowls that he’s been to, he knows the game very well. He built his offense on many players who weren’t selected in the first two rounds of the draft. He focused on teaching fundamental football and knowing the game in and out so that he can whatever he wishes with it. This year might be the year that Shanahan leaves his past behind and looks to his future.
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Andy Reid, the head coach for the Chiefs, is regarded as one of the greatest NFL coaches of all-time. As an NFL head coach for 25 seasons, he has had countless accomplishments. Reid has a 247-138-1 overall regular season record, and a 22-16 postseason record. He has 269 wins; the 5th in NFL history. The coach is a three-time Super Bowl champion and has received three NFL Coach of the Year awards. He is also the first NFL coach to win five consecutive Conference Championship games.
His start as a football coach began as a graduate assistant with the Green Bay Packers, and then as head coach for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1999-2012. After a successful career there, he moved to the head coach position for the Chiefs, where he remains until this day.
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Even though this season hasn’t been the Chief’s showiest one, they have made a great comeback during the late part of the regular season. After a disappointing and embarrassing 14-20 loss to the Raiders on Christmas Day, the team went on a five-game winning streak. This season has been an example as to how the team can adapt and win regardless of their situation.
Both Shanahan and Reid are incredibly talented and versatile coaches. Their experience and knowledge of the game is part of what makes their teams among the best in the NFL. Regardless of what team you cheered for in the Super Bowl, everyone can salute the two coaches whose talents and accomplishments have made history.
Edited By: Juliana Long
Social Media Content Created By: Brianna Huffmaster
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