Kyle Shanahan is well-entrenched with the San Francisco 49ers, considered to be one of the best head coaches in the NFL.

He can enhance that reputation and resume even more so by getting the 49ers back to Super Bowl in a few weeks and then winning it all for the first time in quite a while. They take the initial postseason step in that direction when, following a bye last weekend as the playoffs began, they host the Green Bay Packers in an NFC divisional game on Saturday night. They were already the favorites to get to the big game, and they are even more of a one after their perceived top two threats in the conference, the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, got blown out in the wild-card round.

Shanahan was once with the Browns a decade ago as offensive coordinator on head coach Mike Pettine’s staff. He did a great job for a good portion of the 2014 season, helping the Browns to a 7-4 record and seemingly headed to the playoffs, but then General Manager Ray Farmer got involved by ordering Pettine to play rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel. That caused the Browns to lose their last five games en route to a 7-9 finish. Shanahan was so disgusted with that whole circus that he bolted to greener pastures after the season.

But what if that knucklehead Farmer had not intervened and former Cleveland St. ignatius High School Brian Hoyer had remained as the starting quarterback and took the Browns to the playoffs? And what if Shanahan had remained as well and eventually got the head coaching job here? How much different would the Browns history be over the last decade, and what would they look like now?

As such, would it be the Browns in the divisional round this weekend as the favorites to go to the Super Bowl, with Shanahan leading the way as a generational coach for the club.

Wow!

We can only wonder.

Steve King