Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay remain close friends. While that will never change, limits on what the two can discuss have been put in place since each was hired as a head coach last offseason. Shanahan signed on with the San Francisco 49ers. The division rival Los Angeles Rams hired McVay, who also interviewed for the 49ers job. That means the two friends will face each other at least twice a year for the foreseeable future.
The 49ers and Rams split their series last year during each coaches' rookie season. McVay and the Rams have not yet lost a game this season. Shanahan and his one-win 49ers hope to end that streak on Sunday.
For Shanahan, the game cannot get here soon enough. His team is coming off of a heartbreaking loss at Lambeau Field on Monday night.
"I want this game to get here very fast," Shanahan said during a Friday-morning KNBR interview. "I did not like that feeling after that Green Bay game, but the good thing is, on a short week, you don't have much time to sit there and sulk. You've got to move on. You've got to put a game plan together. You've got to start practicing."
The rivalry between the 49ers and Rams has a long history. Shanahan remembers it well. He was a freshman in high school when his father, Mike Shanahan, was the 49ers' offensive coordinator during the team's Super Bowl 29 run. That was in the middle of a 17-game winning streak against the Rams that spanned nine seasons.
What does this game mean to Shanahan given the renewed rivalry?
"I feel every game, to tell you the truth," he shared. "I would love to get after the Rams, especially a team that hasn't lost a game. I know there's a history too of just division rivalry. When I was a Niner fan out here when I was younger, it wasn't much of a rivalry. The Niners were killing them.
"Now, obviously, the Rams got the record, and we don't, so we need to get this turned around and what a better week to do it than versus the Rams."
Still, Shanahan can't help but be proud of his friend flourishing in Los Angeles and may tell him so before the game. He just hopes McVay's success doesn't extend to Sunday afternoon because Shanahan's team is in desperate need of an upset victory.
"They're doing a hell of a job," Shanahan said of the Rams. "Sean is doing a hell of a job. They haven't lost a game yet. But it would feel good to get our team going, come in here on Sunday and surprise a lot of people. I know our team feels that way. I feel that way, and I'm looking forward very much to seeing him on Sunday."
As for the 49ers' loss to the Packers, Shanahan is well aware of the criticism out there surrounding his play calling at the end of the game.
On San Francisco's final offensive drive of the game, Shanahan was faced with a 2nd-and-3 and then a 3rd-and-3. He chose to pass rather than run on each of those plays. The most costly pass was on the second of the two plays when second-year Packers cornerback Kevin King picked off a deep C.J. Beathard-thrown ball.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers then took the field with just over a minute remaining and got his team in position to kick the game-winning field goal.
Should the 49ers have run the football on one of those two plays to drain time off the clock? While fans have been critical, Shanahan stands by his decision, which was based on what he felt Green Bay was preparing to do. While running the football on 2nd-and-3 may have given the 49ers a higher percentage of gaining a first down (it certainly would have removed more time from the game clock), Shanahan says analytics is only part of the equation.
"It's not enter this into the computer and you run all the time in this situation or enter this in and you throw," Shanahan explained. "What are they playing? Regardless of whether you want to run or not, if they have a nine-man front and there's two people unblocked, you will lose two yards.
"I do wish, in hindsight now, that I ran it on 2nd-and-3 because I threw it and it didn't work, which put us in a 3rd-and-3. But at the time, you're thinking, regardless of the time, 'Hey, if we don't get a first down, I want to win this game right here.'
"I could sit there and run it twice and then Aaron Rodgers won't have much time. But we're going to try to move the chains on third down. We're going to try to win this game. We're not just sitting here and going to take knees and go to overtime. So if you run it on second down and lose two yards, now it's 3rd-and-5. You still have to throw it and try to get that first down on 3rd-and-5.
"My whole theory is: what is the best way to get a first down? That doesn't have to do with time or how it looks if it doesn't work. It has to do with, what do you think you're going against? What do you think they're trying to stop right now? That's why there isn't ever an absolute answer."
Shanahan knows that being a head coach brings about a lot of scrutiny. It's what he signed up for. The criticism may have come even if he made different decisions against the Packers.
Shanahan added, "I've been in it long enough to where I know if you sit there and you run it twice, and it doesn't work, then it's, 'Why didn't you believe in your team? Why didn't you give them a chance? You just sat there and played not to win. I also know if you get aggressive and it doesn't work: 'Hey, you blew it. Why didn't you run the ball and be smarter?'"
Shanahan said he does not try to be aggressive 100 percent of the time, but he will always think about the situation and do what he feels gives the 49ers the best chance to win.
You can listen to the entire conversation with Shanahan below.
