The San Francisco 49ers and Kyle Shanahan are completely focused on defeating the Detroit Lions in tomorrow’s NFC Championship game and progressing to the Super Bowl right now.
However, since 2021 and again this season, the 49ers coach — regarded as one of the NFL’s greatest offensive thinkers — has had to devise strategies to attack one of his team’s most formidable opponents’ defenses.
He previously worked under Dan Quinn as the Falcons’ defensive coordinator before joining Sean McVay with the Rams. He also has 59 games of NFL head coaching experience, having taken over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after Jon Gruden was fired as one of the youngest coaches in NFL history.
Shanahan led San Francisco to an unprecedented postseason run, where he would face the Rams once more, requiring a third win over his division rival to advance to the Super Bowl in a rivalry matchup in the 2021 NFC Championship game.
Instead, Raheem Morris and the Rams’ stout defense effectively shut down the run game, forcing Jimmy Garoppolo to beat them through the air. The 49ers ended the 20-17 loss with only 282 total yards, including 50 rushing yards. Shanahan’s offense was limited to 3-of-9 third-down conversions, and Garoppolo threw a key interception.
He’s been viewed as a rising star for several years and possesses the rare leadership abilities and adaptive approach needed to thrive as a NFL head coach. Five organizations requested interviews with the Rams DC and as he was making the rounds, one NFC team made the surprising mood of locking him down so nobody else would.
While it felt like the Falcons were going to lock down former Patriots coach Bill Belichick — Arthur Blank shocked the NFL world — and named Raheem Morris the next head coach in Atlanta, the same place where he served as the DC under Dann Quinn before joining the Rams.
Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers can take a sigh of relief, as they will no longer have to face Morris as the Rams DC anymore.
Les Snead, the GM of the Rams, went on a lengthy monologue to try to tell teams seeking a head coach how great Morris would be. Here’s some of what he said:
There’s not many coaches on the planet who’s been in both of those rooms on those two sides of the ball. He’s gonna give any organization an edge and just how collaborative he is, it’s going to be an edge that most teams aren’t going to be able to compete with.”
“I know this, he’ll be able to hire an unbelievable staff. Every coach, who’s any good, who’s qualified, they’re going to want to work for Raheem, and I’m pretty sure there’ll be a lot of tampering charges because just about every player in the NFL is going to text him and want to come play for him. I’ll let the NFL handle that.”
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