It's hard for coaches with high expectations to win coach of the year
On Friday, 49ers tight end George Kittle praised coach Kyle Shanahan, before expressing disappointment that Shanahan has never won the NFL’s coach of the year award.
The simple reality for Shanahan is that he missed his best window for winning it. Once a head coach becomes regarded as one of the best coaches in football, it becomes much harder to be named coach of the year.
The designation has evolved, roughly speaking, into a prize for the coach whose team best exceeds its generally accepted expectations entering a given season. Under that standard, this year's no-brainer winner should be Texans coach DeMeco Ryans. Browns coach Kevin Stefanski, whose team was a wild-card when it came to preseason expectations, becomes a viable alternative, given what he did with a revolving door at quarterback.
Ryans and Stefanski were named finalists for the prize, along with Shanahan, Ravens coach John Harbaugh, and Lions coach Dan Campbell.
Although the Ravens weren't expected to win the No. 1 seed in the AFC this year, Harbaugh (like Shanahan) is already regarded as a great head coach, making it harder in any given year to win it. As to Campbell, the Lions basically met their preseason expectations — division winner, No. 3 seed. That's probably not enough to push Campbell over the top.
Shanahan's best chance to win it came in 2019, when the 49ers rocketed to prominence in his third year on the job. That year, however, Harbaugh led the Ravens to a very unexpected top seed in the AFC, and a 14-2 record.
The bottom line is it's not easy for established coaches to win it. Bill Belichick last won the award in 2010. Andy Reid hasn't won it since 2002, for crying out loud. In 17 years on the job, Mike Tomlin has NEVER won it. And Packers coach Matt LaFleur, who spent four years tiptoeing around a delicate genius before turning Jordan Love into a damn good quarterback in his first year on the job, can't even get a sniff for the designation.
In a weird sort of way, the fact that it's harder for guys like Shanahan, John Harbaugh, and Tomlin to win the award is a sign of respect. It takes a lot more than a playoff berth or a division title from them to impress the voters.
