How the NFL Honors Voters Disrespected 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan

Kyle Shanahan deserved better by the NFL Honors voters.

Jan 11, 2026; Philadelphia, PA, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan against the Philadelphia Eagles in an NFC Wild Card Round game at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

SAN FRANCISCO -- This is a travesty. San Francisco 49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan did not win the 2025 NFL Coach of the Year award.

Instead, the NFL honors voters went with New England Patriots Head Coach Mike Vrabel. Now, Vrabel is an excellent coach and did a tremendous job this year. He brought the Patriots from irrelevancy to relevance.

However, Vrabel would not have been as successful this season if he had similar conditions to those of Shanahan. No other coach had more shortcomings, more challenges, and more adversity than Shanahan did with the 49ers.

Kyle Shanahan gets snubbed

Dec 22, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan leaves the field after the game against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

No other team had more annual salary on the injury reserve list than the 49ers. Any other coach would’ve faltered in a similar situation.

But Shanahan not only turned a season that should’ve gone awry, but he also turned it into a magnificent one. The 49ers went on to win 12 games and advanced as far as the divisional playoff round.

This season was so impressive that they were in a position to win the No. 1 playoff seed in the regular season finale against the Seattle Seahawks. 

The fact that the 49ers were even in that position in the first place is insane. They had no business being in that scenario. And while they did lose devastatingly, it shouldn’t drastically take away the job that Shanahan did this year. 

He was the most deserving of the NFL Coach of the Year award, and all he got was six first-place votes. Now, I understand the 49ers had expectations of winning double-digit games and making the playoffs this year.

Dec 14, 2025; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan looks on during the first quarter against the Tennessee Titans at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

But that was when they were supposed to have Brock Purdy, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, and a healthy Ricky Pearsall for every game. The 49ers had none of those this year, and it didn’t matter.

Shanahan got the 49ers to miraculously perform at an exceptional level to win 12 games, to be in contention for the top seed, and win a playoff game. 

It’s unheard of for a team to be this successful with so many injuries and so much adversity. The NFL honors voters had a chance to reward a coach for overcoming so many obstacles. 

Instead, they continued to honor the Coach of the Year award for taking a team out of the dumps. That’s all the award is, similar to the MVP award, which is essentially a quarterback award.

The unfortunate part of all of this is that, if Shanahan didn’t win the Coach of the Year this year, then he’s never going to win it. He got snubbed in 2019. 

He arguably got snubbed in 2022, but this year is the worst of it. The NFL honors voters disrespected him, and they should be ashamed of themselves. 

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