Is 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan Elite?

Kyle Shanahan has accomplished almost everything a head coach possibly can accomplish other than win a Super Bowl.

He has built an elite roster from scratch, and he gets tremendous credit for that. He also has an elite offensive system that teams all around the league steal from. But for him to be considered an elite head coach, he has to win a championship.

The way I see it, there are two surefire elite head coaches in the NFL right now -- Andy Reid (three Super Bowl victories) and John Harbaugh (one Super Bowl victory). Both those coaches beat Shanahan this past season.

After those two, it's difficult to find a truly elite head coach. The closest one might be Jim Harbaugh, who hasn't won a Super Bowl -- he lost one while coaching the 49ers -- but he won the college football national championship last month and that's a huge accomplishment. I expect Harbaugh will turn the Chargers into Super Bowl contenders immediately.

Which means Reid and the Harbaughs are the only NFL head coaches who currently are in the elite echelon. After them, there are few coaches in the waiting room who could become elite one day.

Shanahan is in the waiting room, and he's been waiting for four years. Every time it seems like he's earned his way into the pantheon of elite coaches, he trips, falls on his face and winds up back in the waiting room reading old magazines.

Sean McVay won a Super Bowl, but he's still in the waiting room because lots of non-elite head coaches have won one Super Bowl. He still has lots to prove.

Dan Campbell also is in the waiting room, and he's much more aggressive than Shanahan, which means Campbell could enter elite status sooner.

Stay tuned.