San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has downplayed the team’s Week 7 Super Bowl rematch against the Kansas City Chiefs.
While he’s willing to admit that watching film of their heartbreaking Super Bowl LVIII isn’t easy, Shanahan told reporters in a press conference before Wednesday’s practice that he isn’t putting any additional weight on Sunday’s game because of that loss.
“Yeah, I think everyone understands that we’ve lost the two Super Bowls to them,” Shanahan said. “So I mean, that can give a little post-traumatic stress when you turn on the tape, but I think that’s human nature. But you’ve got to make sure you don’t get caught up in that.
“This game has nothing to do with past games, that was last year. We’re playing a really good AFC opponent. We’re .500 right now. We want to stay on top of our division and get a win. I don’t really, you think about that stuff going into it, but in terms of what it plays out in a game, it really has no correlation, and you try to make sure that it doesn’t.”
It’s easy to point to Super Bowl revenge as a potential motivating factor for San Francisco. However, there’s a larger issue unfolding.
Shanahan can’t beat Chiefs head coach Andy Reid.
The 49ers since Shanahan took over in 2017 are 0-4 against Reid’s Chiefs. That includes a Week 3 loss in the 2018 regular season, a Week 7 loss in the 2022 regular season and a pair of Super Bowls.
According to the AP’s Josh Dubow, it’s the second-most games a 49ers head coach has lost to another head coach without securing a win. Jack Christensen, who coached the 49ers for 67 games between 1963 and 1967, went 0-9 against Baltimore Colts head coach Don Shula.
It’s easy to write off the 2018 loss as the Chiefs just being better. They went to the AFC title game that year while the 49ers stumbled to a 4-12 finish.
The two Super Bowls and the 2022 regular season matchup make it seem as though the Chiefs head coach and his staff found the key to solve the Shanahan 49ers. While the teams regularly play close games, it’s Reid’s club that comes up on the right side of seemingly every big play.
Perhaps the 2024 regular season is where that trend flips. Given that the Chiefs figure to be in the way again if the 49ers are in Super Bowl contention any time over the next decade or so, solving Reid and his Kansas City club is crucial.
Sunday’s game may be ‘just another game,’ but it could have a ripple effect that leads to either a Super Bowl win or another Super Bowl defeat at some point down the road.