National Football League

Kyle Shanahan can't wait for this chance to avenge past Super Bowl letdowns

Updated Feb. 7, 2024 12:42 p.m. ET

HENDERSON, Nev. — Kyle Shanahan still remembers the pain in his father's face when Mike Shanahan lost his first three Super Bowls as an assistant coach with the Denver Broncos. And he experienced it for himself, too, on the losing end of the only two Super Bowls he has reached.

That's why the biggest lesson the San Francisco 49ers head coach takes from his personal Super Bowl hell is the obvious one:

Losing hurts. A lot. And getting over it takes a very long time.

"In terms of pain, I broke my arm and my collarbone and a lot of things," he said Tuesday at the Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort & Spa, the 49ers' team hotel for the Super Bowl. "Those are more painful. But (losing a Super Bowl) lasts a while.

"Until you get back there again."

Shanahan is back again, getting ready to face the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium, where he's hoping for a far better outcome than the last two times he got this far.

His last two Super Bowl experiences had miserable endings. He was the Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator in Super Bowl LI when they famously blew a 28-3 third quarter lead and lost to the New England Patriots in overtime, 34-28. And he did it again, three years later, as the head coach of the 49ers in Super Bowl LIV, when they blew a 20-10 fourth-quarter lead and lost to these very Chiefs, 31-20.

Not surprisingly, Shanahan has not wanted to dwell publicly on either loss this week, except to acknowledge that the second loss — his only one as a head coach — was the one he considers the most painful. He said he did learn some practical lessons from his Super Bowl experiences, but nothing he didn't already know — like keeping the focus this week on business, not fun.

That's a lesson he hopes the 11 current 49ers who were on the Super Bowl team four years ago have carried with them, too.

"I think all those guys for the most part were young guys, and it was their first one," Shanahan said. "I think always when you go your first time you experience a lot of stuff. But I think when you go your second time, all that stuff you experienced, it's about one thing. It's about what happens in those three hours.

"I think it's real cool for those guys who have gone to be able to talk to players who it's their first time, kind of help them not get caught up in stuff. So, having experience always helps."

Are Brock Purdy's 49ers better than Jimmy G's Niners?

Shanahan said there aren't a lot of things he'd change from his previous experiences, though — at least not in terms of preparation and his Super Bowl-week routine. He insisted he was "real happy with our preparation last time," and that both times he took lessons from watching his father win back-to-back Super Bowls with the Broncos (in Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII). That's one of the reasons why he installed the game plan last week and took care of as many details as possible before his team arrived in Las Vegas — just like he had done both times before.

"If you put stuff off to (Super Bowl) week and think it's going to be a normal week," he said, "you're going to get to that Thursday or Friday and not quite feel as comfortable."

But there really doesn't seem to be anything else that Shanahan would change — other than the obvious of not blowing a big late lead if the 49ers get one in the second half Sunday. He would do anything to help his team hold on this time — to experience the thrill that he watched his father feel twice.

"If you win, I bet it's going to be pretty damn special," he said. "If you lose, it's tough, and you got to deal with it — however long that takes. Then you come back to fight another."

And now that he's back, he doesn't want to feel the pain of a Super Bowl loss again.

"I think anyone who loses a Super Bowl probably ranks that up there," he said. "I remember always seeing my dad after losing those three Super Bowls (as an assistant coach) when he was in Denver when I was younger and how hard it was on him. I think any time you get that close and lose the last one, that's a tough one to harvest.

"It's the ultimate goal," Shanahan added. "We always say it: There's only one team happy at the end of the year. We're real proud of a lot of things that we've accomplished here in the last five years or so. We still want to be that one team that's happy. No matter what you accomplish, if you don't win that Super Bowl, it's always disappointing.

"We've felt that. We've gotten close, and we're real proud that we're back in this situation. But we also know how it feels when you don't get it done. So, we want to go and make sure to get it done this year."

Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.