Mike Shanahan won Super Bowls 32 and 33 as the head coach of the Denver Broncos. He was also the San Francisco 49ers' offensive coordinator during their triumph in Super Bowl 29.
Current head coach Kyle Shanahan has a chance to finally win a Super Bowl, too. His 49ers will battle the Kansas City Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas later today, hoping to enter football immortality. According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, should Kyle's squad emerge victorious, he and his father will etch their names as the first father-son duo to clinch championships as head coaches, not only in the NFL but across all four major U.S. sports leagues.
With a win in Super Bowl LVIII, Kyle Shanahan and his father Mike would become the first father-son duo in NFL, NBA, NHL or MLB history to each win a championship as a head coach. pic.twitter.com/B8Z61dOtUy
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 11, 2024
Kyle has come close to sports' grandest achievement twice before. As the offensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons, his team endured a heartbreaking collapse against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 51. Three years later, as head coach of the 49ers, Kyle bore witness to yet another late-game heartbreak as the Kansas City Chiefs staged a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback to snatch victory in Super Bowl 54.
In today's Super Bowl rematch with the Chiefs, the younger Shanahan hopes to make amends for that defeat. However, the 49ers coach isn't worried about his legacy, regardless of the outcome of Super Bowl 58. This past week, he was asked how he might deal with yet another defeat.
"I deal with it the same way if we win," Shanahan said. "I celebrate with my family, and I move on with the rest of my life, which is being a father or son and coaching and working, doing all that. Narrative, good or bad, is just a narrative. And that's my biggest thing with everything. When you go into these games, what makes you prepare? I just don't want regrets. I want to do everything that makes sense to myself, that makes sense for our team.
"And when you do that, that's what I have found -- no matter how hard something is or good something is, you always keep perspective of what it really is. If you want your perspective to be someone else's narrative, good luck being happy in life or successful."