Former Washington Football Team assistant coaches to meet in NFC title game

By Jacob Calvin Meyer - The Washington Times - Sunday, January 23, 2022

Washington football fans are going to have to deal with another week of discourse about their team’s former assistant coaches.

With the Los Angeles Rams’ win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, the NFC Championship game will feature two former Washington assistant coaches against each other. Sean McVay’s Rams will host Kyle Shanahan’s San Francisco 49ers next Sunday for a trip to go to the Super Bowl.

McVay and Shanahan both came to Washington in 2010 when Mike Shanahan was hired as head coach. Kyle Shanahan was the team’s offensive coordinator from 2010 to 2013 — his father’s entire tenure — before moving onto stints as the play-caller for the Browns and Falcons. McVay, meanwhile, was an offensive assistant in 2010, tight ends coach from 2011 to 2013 and then stayed on as Jay Gruden’s offensive coordinator from 2014 to 2016.

Both Kyle Shanahan and McVay were hired as head coaches for their respective teams in 2017. McVay took the Rams to the Super Bowl in the 2018 season, losing to the Patriots, while Kyle Shanahan led the 49ers to the Super Bowl the following year, falling to the Chiefs.

The comments, fun facts and jokes about the Washington Football Team were rekindled last week after McVay and Kyle Shanahan both won their respective wild card games. Joining them as former Washington assistants to lead playoff teams this past weekend was Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, who was Mike Shanahan’s quarterbacks coach from 2010 to 2013. Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers beat LaFleur’s Packers 13-10 on Saturday night.

The 2013 Washington coaching staff was unreal.

OC - Kyle Shanahan
QB coach - Matt LaFleur
TE coach - Sean McVay

They’re all still alive in the NFC playoffs 🤯

(via @NBC4Sports)pic.twitter.com/LnT1Hj2pg6
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) January 20, 2022

Since 2017, the three coaches have posted a 133-78 regular-season record with nine playoff appearances and six showings in the NFC title game. During that timeframe, Washington is 31-50 with zero winning seasons and one playoff appearance.

• Jacob Calvin Meyer can be reached at jmeyer@washingtontimes.com.