Kyle Shanahan was considered one of the NFL’s brightest offensive minds when he took his first head coach role in 2017.
As offensive coordinator, he helped the Atlanta Falcons come within touching distance of being crowned world champions only for Tom Brady‘s New England Patriots to mount a historic comeback.
He joined the San Francisco 49ers a day later and has remained ever since, making two trips to the Super Bowl but losing to the Kansas City Chiefs both times.
Still regarded as one of the NFL‘s best coaches — and paid as one with a $14 million annual salary — Shanahan is now shaping up for another attempt at an elusive ring after a disappointing 2024 season.
He was pictured at the league’s annual meeting in Palm Beach, Florida, and fans are concerned that the job is taking its toll.
Self-styled ’49ers analytics nerd’ Mike Urtaza shared pictures of the coach from 2017 and 2025 on X.
“Kyle Shanahan from 2017 to 2025. What eight years and two Super Bowl losses do to a man,” he captioned the post, which quickly went viral.
Shanahan went from fresh-faced and clean-shaven to bearded and appearing to have the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Fans were quick to share their thoughts on the 45-year-old’s recent look.
“Crazy, being a Head Coach is brutal, Kyle looks exhausted and OTA’s not started,” said one.
“The bags under his eyes! He needs to catch up on some serious shut eye,” added a second.
GettyShanahan has a lot of work to do over the offseason[/caption]
A third noted: “Looks like he’s a two-term president!”
Another simply asked: “Is he okay?!”
“That’s what Brock Purdy will do to you,” joked a fifth as Shanahan aims to tie the quarterback down.
Purdy is demanding over $50 million per season after playing for three years on a budget rookie deal.
Clearing enough cap space has been a real test and the Niners have seen a host of stars leave via trade or free agency, including Deebo Samuel and Dre Greenlaw.
Perhaps the negotiations have taken their toll on Shanahan or, as many noted, he could just have aged.
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“Well do a before and after of you in 8 years and bet you age the same lol,” joked one fan.
Social media presence Dov Kleiman disputed this by posting pictures of Sean McVay and suggesting the Los Angeles Rams chief had ‘aged like a politician.’
Shanahan doesn’t seem overly concerned about his team’s plight heading into the 2025 season.
“I don’t think [the cuts in spending] is about lowering expectations,” he said on Tuesday. “It’s kind of the position your team’s in.
“We lost the Super Bowl in overtime before, last year. That’s all anyone can think about [last year]. The offseason, you’re not even thinking about. You’re thinking about getting to Week 1, and that’s kind of how it was for us last year when we took our shot.
“This year, we had a bad year. We didn’t do good. We didn’t make the playoffs. So all we’re talking about is: how do we get back to playing good football?
“And we’ve known we lost a number of players, but what we look at here is, I don’t think about necessarily the season’s expectations.
“I think about how good we can get in the draft, how many people we can add in that. Then, you try to build it throughout phase one, phase two, phase three.”
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