© Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Kyle Shanahan’s not as young as he was when he was the youngest position coach in NFL history at 26 years old, or the youngest offensive coordinator in NFL history at 28 years old, but he’s still a young enough coach (now 39) that he thought about going for a dive in the mud along with his players after his now 6-0 San Francisco 49ers beat the Washington Redskins in a muddy, 9-0 win.
“It was definitely fun watching our whole team slide across the field at the end. I enjoyed watching that,” Shanahan said. “I did think about it, but I don’t think it would have looked right.”
The @49ers and @nbsmallerbear sliding into 6-0 like…pic.twitter.com/BuWKGAFpdI
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 20, 2019
As was made clear this week, when Shanahan said he dislike “everything else” about coaching for the Redskins, apart from coaching with his father, Mike, there is still bad blood between the Shanahans and Daniel Snyder-run Redskins. The win saw the younger Shanahan give the game ball to his father, a gesture with respect to both being fired by Snyder in 2013.
“Everyone’s a little more sensitive things that things involve your family, so that’s why it’s always I’m always a little more sensitive to this because of what I went through with my dad here,” said Kyle Shanahan after the game. “And that’s why it was nice to get the win, but it had definitely had nothing to do with the game has nothing to do with the score.”
Tight end George Kittle, who caught three passes for 38 yards, including a key catch for a first down on 3rd-and-8, was the one to reveal that Mike Shanahan received the game ball, saying, “That he did. Pretty special.”