For years, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has been lauded as one of the best coaches in the NFL. But there have been two accomplishments that have eluded him: A Super Bowl and a Coach of the Year Award.
Shanahan and the 49ers have been regular playoff contenders throughout his tenure, making four NFC Championship Games and two Super Bowls, but have failed to get a ring through nine years. In addition, while the head coach has regularly been in the running for Coach of the Year, he has never
won the award.
Shanahan had one of his best coaching jobs in 2025, leading an injury-depleted 49ers squad to a 13-win season and a Divisional Round appearance after upsetting the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wildcard Round of the playoffs. The 49ers did so while George Kittle, Brock Purdy, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, and several others missed a good chunk of games during the season.
Now, in 2026, where does Shanahan rank as a coach in the NFL?
The Associated Press did their yearly coaching rankings, with a familiar face at the top once again: Kansas City’s Andy Reid.
Reid was voted the No. 1 coach in the NFL for the fourth straight year, despite the Chiefs going 6-11 in 2025, thanks to their stellar resume before. That includes 12 straight winning seasons and a stretch of five Super Bowl appearances in six years.
No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 all were NFC West coaches, with Sean McVay, Mike Macdonald, and Shanahan coming in next on the list in that particular order.
McVay has regularly been ranked as a top-five coach in the NFL and has a Super Bowl to go with his resume, while Macdonald has been one of the biggest risers over the past two years as one of football’s best defensive minds. Despite a much shorter head coaching career, he was ranked above Shanahan after winning the Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks earlier this year.
Rounding out the top five was Denver’s Sean Payton, who led the Broncos to a 14-3 record this year and an AFC Championship Game appearance, where they fell short to the New England Patriots without Bo Nix.
Is Shanahan now the third-best coach in the NFC West? There’s a strong argument that he could be first, second, or third, which goes to show how good the division currently is with three potential Super Bowl contenders.
Each of the coaches is also valuable in their own ways. McVay and Shanahan have been innovative offensive minds, churning out two different offenses to top-five finishes nearly every year. They’ve also been leaders with strong respect from their locker rooms as player-friendly coaches. Macdonald, on the other hand, is arguably the best defensive mind in the game, and has a Super Bowl to his name just two years in.
Notably, Shanahan is the only coach voted in the top five to have not won a Super Bowl. Perhaps 2026 is finally the year that changes.
