Sean McVay Is the Better Coach Than Kyle Shanahan — And the Record Still Backs It Up

Big John and Jesse J went at it hard on the latest Ref-Horrendumb episode while breaking down NFL Week 6. The 49ers stayed perfect. The Rams collapsed again. Jesse, as usual, planted his flag for Kyle Shanahan. I took Sean McVay. After listening back to the tape and looking at the full picture, my take hasn’t changed.

These two came up together on the 2013 Washington staff under Mike Shanahan. McVay was the young tight ends coach. Shanahan was the offensive coordinator. Both got head jobs in 2017 and have spent nearly a decade in the same division, running versions of the same offense against each other. They know each other’s tendencies better than almost any other pair of coaches in the league. That makes the head-to-head numbers interesting — Shanahan has held the edge in regular-season meetings for years — but it doesn’t settle the argument about who is the better coach.

McVay has the better overall body of work. He turned a Rams team that had been irrelevant into an immediate contender, won Coach of the Year in his first season, reached two Super Bowls, and won one. He has extracted high-level production from multiple quarterbacks (Jared Goff early, Matthew Stafford later) and turned complementary players into stars. His regular-season winning percentage has consistently sat higher than Shanahan’s across their shared time as head coaches. When the Rams have been healthy and the pieces have fit, McVay’s teams have looked like one of the most complete operations in the league.

Shanahan’s case is real. He has a higher ceiling in pure scheme and play design on any given Sunday. He has reached two Super Bowls of his own. He has won more of the direct matchups. Defensive coaches who have faced both have split on who is harder to prepare for week to week. Jesse’s point on the show — that Shanahan’s answers have often been sharper when the two offenses have mirrored each other — has some tape behind it. The 49ers have also shown the ability to stay competitive even when the injury list gets ugly.

But “better in the head-to-head” and “better coach overall” are not the same thing. McVay has delivered the championship. He has done it with less of the built-in organizational infrastructure Shanahan inherited in San Francisco. He has also shown he can adjust his offense across different quarterback styles and supporting casts. Shanahan’s offense remains elite when the personnel is right, but the results have been more boom-or-bust. Two Super Bowl appearances without a win is not nothing. It is also not the same as winning one.

The current 2026 season has only sharpened the contrast. The 49ers opened by beating the Rams in Australia and have stayed in the mix. The Rams have struggled, including an ugly Week 6 loss that dropped them to 2-4. McVay has taken public accountability for some of the play-calling and situational decisions. That does not erase the prior nine seasons of work. It does show that even the best coaches hit stretches where the roster, the travel, the injuries, and the margins all work against them at once.

Jesse can keep the Shanahan flag. The scheme is sharp, the head-to-head edge is real, and the 49ers have been harder to kill than their record sometimes suggests. I still take McVay. The Super Bowl, the higher win rate, the ability to build and sustain a contender across multiple quarterbacks, and the results when the Rams have had their pieces together outweigh the head-to-head record against one specific opponent. The best coach is the one who has won the most with what he has been given over the longest stretch. Right now that is still Sean McVay.

The Ref-Horrendumb debate continues. Listen to the Week 6 episode for the full back-and-forth. The tape does not lie, and neither does the trophy case.