HENDERSON, Nev. – Kyle Shanahan, coach of the San Francisco 49ers, paid tribute Tuesday to another coach who has made it to multiple Super Bowls.

Twenty-five years ago, Mike Shanahan coached the Denver Broncos to the first of two consecutive Super Bowl wins.

Sunday, his son, Kyle, will coach the 49ers as they try to stop the Kansas City Chiefs from repeating as NFL champs – and from defeating the 49ers as they did in Super Bowl 54.

“I’m the son of a coach, but my dad’s the best coach I’ve ever been around, so to be around that good of one is also a huge advantage for me,” Kyle Shanahan said at the 49ers’ team hotel at Lake Las Vegas. “He was never training me to be a coach. He was just being my dad. The way he went about everything – how direct he was with people, how honest he was, how hard he worked. You didn’t always like what he’d have to say, but he’d tell you the truth.”

Father and son worked together in Washington from 2010-13, and Mike Shanahan was a finalist to become the 49ers coach in 2015 and ’16 before his son landed his first head-coaching role in 2017.
Following in his father’s footsteps was not the original plan. But being in pro sports was, and Kyle Shanahan wanted to do so as a wide receiver, a goal he shared with his father in eighth grade, when Mike Shanahan was the 49ers’ offensive coordinator.

His dad’s advice during a long car ride remains vivid: “You have to commit to it and do it.”

Coaching only entered the picture once he exhausted his collegiate playing career at Duke and then the University of Texas.

Said Kyle Shanahan: “Once my fifth year hit and the reality of what I was as a player hit, I started to think, ‘You know, I want to coach. I don’t want to stop being around football. And I’ve actually been working at this my whole life. It’s a little easier than playing.’ And it kind of naturally happened.”

When asked how losing the Super Bowl four years ago ranks with his postseason disappointments, he responded how such high stakes obviously puts it “up there,” but he also noted how broken up his dad was to lose in conference championships in his own career.

“Anytime you get that close and lose the last one, it’s hardest,” Shanahan said. “All football games are hard to lose.”

EAGLES: Kellen Moore joined Philadelphia’s staff as offensive coordinator after filling that role with two other NFL teams over the previous five years.

Moore worked as the offensive coordinator for the Chargers this season as part of a staff headed by Brandon Staley, who was fired Dec. 15 as head coach.

Before joining the Chargers’ staff, Moore had been on the Dallas Cowboys’ staff from 2018-22. He was offensive coordinator from 2019-22.

Dallas ranked second in the NFL in points per game and yards per game during Moore’s four seasons as coordinator.

Moore, 34, takes over for Brian Johnson, who was fired as Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator after the Eagles capped their late-season fade with a 32-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC wild-card playoffs.

RAIDERS: Las Vegas hired former Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy on Tuesday, going to its second option after Kliff Kingsbury withdrew from consideration Saturday.

New Raiders Coach Antonio Pierce will be looking for Getsy to help turn around an offense that this past season was 27th in yards per game (289.5) and 23rd in scoring (19.5-point average).

But Getsy, 39, was fired by the Bears after Chicago tied for 18th with 21.2 points per game, just five spots ahead of Las Vegas.

GIANTS: Coach Brian Daboll took his time interviewing defensive coordinators before formally hiring Shane Bowen on Tuesday, finding an experienced replacement for veteran coordinator Wink Martindale.

The Giants and Martindale parted ways last month after Daboll fired two of Martindale’s defensive assistants. Bowen spent the previous six seasons in Tennessee. The Titans promoted him to defensive coordinator in 2021 after he spent his first three years as the team’s outside linebacker’s coach.

COLTS: Owner Jim Irsay told his fans that he was feeling better and appreciated their support, nearly a month after team officials announced he was recovering from a severe respiratory illness.

“On the mend,” the 64-year-old Irsay wrote on his social media account. “Grateful for all the messages of support.”

It was the first post from Irsay on X, formerly known as Twitter, since Jan. 8.

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