Niners’ Kyle Shanahan collects top coaching award ... in Kansas City
Of all the places 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan could have collected an award ...
“When they told me I won an award and they told me it was in Kansas City, I said there was no way I was going,” Shanahan said.
But Shanahan, named NFC Coach of the Year by the Kansas City-based Committee of 101, put aside his feelings and gladly accepted.
The Super Bowl loss by his San Francisco 49ers to the Chiefs earlier in the month wasn’t a touchy subject. Shanahan met with mostly KC-based media members before Saturday’s evening banquet and responded to every question about the game in Miami where the 49ers led by 10 midway through the fourth quarter before falling 31-20.
“I don’t look it as much as it getting away from us,” Shanahan said. “It’s what it takes to beat a good team, and you have to do that in all three phases. The other team makes plays. That’s what happens.
“It’s a big deal, and it’s tough. It’s also a big deal to get to one. Not many people understand that. But I don’t try to make it more than it is. We lost the game. We didn’t move the chains on our last two possessions, and they did. When that happens against a good team like that you don’t win.
“You lick your wounds, you see what you could have done better and you work harder.”
The 101 award winners were announced on Jan. 14, after the divisional-round games were played and before the conference championship. That was between the 49ers’ dominant victories over the Vikings and the Packers, which advanced San Francisco, in Shanahan’s third year, to its first Super Bowl since the 2012 season.
The 50th 101 Awards also honored the Ravens’ John Harbaugh as AFC Coach of the Year, and his quarterback Lamar Jackson as AFC Offensive Player of the Year, and Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore. Other NFC winners were Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas and defensive end Chandler Jones of the Cardinals.
Also honored was the late Bart Starr, named winner of the Lamar Hunt Award for Professional Football. Starr’s wife Cherry accepted the award.
The event also pays tribute to the Chiefs award winners. Accepting the Derrick Thomas Award as the team MVP was safety Tyrann Mathieu. The Mack Lee Hill Award as the team’s top rookie went to wide receiver and return specialist Mecole Hardman.
The program included a salute to the champion Chiefs and it just so happened to include the game’ s losing coach. Painful as the loss was it didn’t diminish the accomplishment of Shanahan and the 49ers turning a 4-12 team in 2018 into a 13-3 top seed and NFC champion this season.
“I’m proud as heck as I can be of our season, of how much we competed, how hard we went,” Shanahan said. “That’s all you can control.”
This story was originally published February 29, 2020 at 8:35 PM.