Kyle Shanahan’s exit as Washington Redskins offensive coordinator wasn’t exactly smooth. It came with leaks about his lack of popularity around the team facility, and ultimately ended when both he and his dad, Mike, the team’s head coach, were both fired in 2013 after four seasons.
The younger Shanahan on Wednesday told reporters he looks back fondly on his time coaching under his dad in Washington, but that’s where the happy memories end.
“Being able to work with my dad and be around some other good coaches,” Shanahan said when asked the best part of coaching in Washington.
As for the worst part?
“Everything else,” Shanahan said before trying to soften the blow with, “I liked a lot of the players, some good people.”
It’s not a surprise that there’s some sense of animosity between Shanahan and the organization that fired both him and his father. Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported in December 2013 that there was a belief around the team that Kyle and his inexperienced coaching staff were the source of the dysfunction that sent the team from a postseason berth in 2012 to a 3-13 finish in 2013.
It’s worth noting that two of the members of that coaching staff were Sean McVay and Matt LaFleur, both now NFL head coaches.
Washington’s reputation as an organization isn’t great, in large part because of owner Dan Snyder and a series of mishaps, misfortune and poor decisions that have taken a marquee NFL franchise and turned it into a laughingstock. Washington has one playoff win since the turn of the century, and it came in 2005.
Chances are Shanahan still holds a grudge that will give him a little extra motivation to come out of Sunday’s game with a win. It would be an easy East Coast trap game for San Francisco, which is coming off such a big division victory over the Rams, but given Shanahan’s rather blunt approach to his negative feelings toward Washington, it’s hard to believe he won’t do everything he can to ensure the 49ers win — and win big — on Sunday.
