Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
An old video of San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan from 2017 is going viral due how clearly it illustrates the extent to which he’s aged since taking the job. Shanahan, 46 years old, took over as the 49ers head coach in 2017 when he was 37 years old.
Beyond the general intensity of being an NFL head coach, it’s actually possible that Kyle Shanahan’s job as the HC of the San Francisco 49ers is actually a bit more stressful than the others in the league.
There are the two losses in the Super Bowl in 2020 and 2024, losing to the Chiefs both times, but there’s also the recent speculation that the 49ers’ league-leading rate of injuries is being caused by an electrical substation near the team’s practice field.
Still, the visual confirmation of the toll that nine years of being an NFL head coach has taken on Shanahan was jarring enough that it caught fire on social media.
Old video of San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan goes viral after NFL fans see how much he’s aged since taking over the job
Kyle Shanahan has aged 30 years and only 9 years have passed. Holy moly. pic.twitter.com/7SjYPEKB5p
— Tony Renghini (@tonyrenghini) January 20, 2026
Look how young he looks LMFAO https://t.co/eOON5xrgl9
— ⁸𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙧𝙚 (@33643pts) January 20, 2026
𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚: 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan has gone viral with fans SHOCKED at how different he looks from his first press conference at the NFL combine compared to now.
He literally looks like a completely different person.
Kyle has aged 25 years in just nine seasons.
🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/ApafipHZ1S
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 21, 2026
Shanahan’s 49ers again had a frustrating season, as they finished 3rd in the NFC West despite winning 12 games, all while dealing with a bevy of injuries throughout the entire team. While they were able to upset the Eagles on the road in the NFC Wild Card round, they got blown out by the Seattle Seahawks last weekend in the divisional round.