Yahoo Finance 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey and Coach Kyle Shanahan Hoping to Win Super Bowl Just Like Their Dads 29 Years Ago
Christian's father, Ed, played under Kyle's father, Mike, while in San Francisco and Denver in the 1990s
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Christian McCaffrey and Kyle ShanahanChristian McCaffrey and Kyle Shanahan are following in the footsteps of their dads, who won Super Bowls in the 1990s together on two teams
Christian's dad Ed won the title under Mike Shanahan, when the latter was the 49ers offensive coordinator, and they won two titles in Denver where Mike was head coach
Kyle and Mike would become the first father and son head coaches to win the Super Bowl, should the 49ers win this year
Christian McCaffrey and Kyle Shanahan are hoping to accomplish what their fathers did 29 years ago — become Super Bowl champs!
The San Francisco 49ers running back and head coach have a special bond that dates back to the 90s, when McCaffrey’s dad, Ed, played for Kyle’s dad, Mike, on the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos.
Christian was a toddler and Kyle a teenager when the 49ers — with Mike as offensive coordinator and Ed as a wide receiver — won the championship over the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX in 1995.
Three years later, their fathers reconnected on the Denver Broncos, where Mike as head coach led the team, including Ed, to two titles in 1998 and 1999.
Cyrus McCrimmon/The Denver Post via Getty
Ed McCaffrey greets his sons Max McCaffrey (left) and Christian McCaffrey on the fieldRelated: All About Christian McCaffrey's Parents, Ed and Lisa McCaffrey
Flash forward a quarter of a century, and now the younger McCaffrey and Shanahan are on the cusp of history.
If McCaffrey, aka CMC, and the Niners win on Feb. 11 against the Kansas City Chiefs, he’ll become the third NFL rushing champion to win a Super Bowl in the same year, following another Broncos legend, Terrell Davis, as well as Dallas Cowboys Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith (1992, 1993, 1995), according to CBS Sports.
Tracy A Woodward/The Washington Post via Getty
Kyle (L) and Mike ShanahanA Super Bowl win would also mean that Kyle and Mike would become the first father and son head coaches to win a title.
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Having a famous football star dad could seemingly be a burden for a young kid learning the game, but for Christian, it was a bonus.
Christian McCaffrey/ Instagram
Christian McCaffrey with his parents, Ed and Lisa, and his brothers Max and Dylan.“Growing up I was Ed's kid, we were always Ed's sons and so in a way, that was an advantage for us because we got to experience a little bit of that already,” he said in a conversation with his former Stanford University coach last fall. “We would hear the voices whenever we showed up to an AAU game and different things like that. And I used to have a small amount of resentment, I think myself and three of my brothers, we all kind of wanted to branch off and create our own name."
Related: The Super Bowl Is Set! Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers Will Play in 2024 Game
Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty
Kyle Shanahan and Christian McCaffreyHe added, "But that was a very, very small time in our lives where we had that, and I think it quickly became here's a guy who did it the right way and played 13 years in the NFL and won three Super Bowls, been to a Pro Bowl, he's been cut, he's been traded, he's been at the highest of the game. That's like a cheat code right in your own home, use that to your advantage. I tried to do that as much as possible."
The Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers will face off in Super Bowl LVIII, airing on CBS on Feb. 11 at 6:30 p.m. ET.
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