Kyle Shanahan is entering his 10th season as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. These past 10 years have been one of the better stretches in franchise history, and it's clear Shanahan deserves a ton of credit for that.
In 2026, Shanahan's squad figures to be a contender once again. In this day and age, it's extremely hard to stick as a contender, but the 49ers, for the most part, have been able to do so.
Ahead of the 2026 season, the team at CBS Sports ranked the top 10 head coaches in the league. Shanahan, deservedly so, found himself on the list.
Shanahan No. 3 on Top Head Coaches List
Each NFL expert at CBS ranked their top 10 head coaches. Then, each spot was assigned a value, with 10 points being awarded for each first-place vote, all the way down to one point for a 10th-place vote.
Shanahan came in at No. 3, behind only Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams and Mike Macdonald of the Seattle Seahawks. Shanahan received 84 voting points and was as high as No. 2 and as low as No. 5 on the ballots.
"Shanahan's ability to get the most out of his quarterbacks is second to none. He went 38-17 and reached a Super Bowl with Jimmy Garoppolo, whose play outside the Bay Area has been lackluster," Zachary Pereles explained. "He is 30-15 with Brock Purdy as his starting quarterback, and when Purdy missed time last year, Mac Jones stepped in and went 5-3."
As Pereles mentioned, one of Shanahan's most impressive feats is what he's been able to do with quarterbacks. Jimmy Garoppolo looked like one of the best quarterbacks in the league under Shanahan and has failed to sniff that level of success under any other coach.
Now, the 49ers are humming along with Brock Purdy, and the team even had success with Mac Jones in 2025.
"That adaptability seems to spread across the team, too. Shanahan's 49ers went 11-6 last year and won a playoff game despite just six players -- Christian McCaffrey, Kyle Juszczyk, Colton McKivitz, Dee Winters Kalia Davis and Deommodore Lenoir -- starting all 17 games," Pereles continued. "San Francisco was without George Kittle, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Purdy and many other top players for long stretches."
The 49ers still winning despite being among the most injury-ravaged teams in the game is perhaps even more impressive. As Pereles noted, the 49ers only had six players on the entire team play in every game in 2025, yet they still made the playoffs.
Shanahan has yet to win a Super Bowl, but he's won the NFC twice and held a lead in both Super Bowl appearances. It's clear that Shanahan is among the best coaches in the league, so a Super Bowl should be coming soon.
