"There's kind of an appeal to that" - NFL analyst floats wild Kyle Shanahan to Bears trade proposal in 2025 NFL offseason

The San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bears entered the 2024 NFL season full of hope. While the former eyed another trip to the Super Bowl, the latter had playoff aspirations. However, 13 weeks into the season, neither team is anywhere close to contention.

The 49ers are 5-7 and have lost Christian McCaffrey for the rest of the season to a PCL injury. Their aging roster and the forthcoming expense of a massive contract extension for quarterback Brock Purdy suggest their Super Bowl window may be closing.

The Bears are 4-8, all but out of playoff contention, and are being led by an interim coach for the rest of the season after firing Matt Eberflus following their Thanksgiving Day loss to the Detroit Lions.

Neither team is where it anticipated being and will aim for major changes in 2025 to prevent a repeat of this season. To make that a reality, Mike Florio suggests the two teams should connect and make moves during the offseason. However, he argues their conversation should focus not on players, but on Kyle Shanahan.

On the "Molly and Haugh" radio show, Florio suggested that the 49ers' head coach has taken the team as far as he could, and a change would benefit both parties. He said:

"I feel like (Shanahan) is on the Andy Reid path where he is never going to reach his full potential unless he goes to a new team. And his dad's from Illinois. There's kind of an appeal to that."

Kyle Shanahan to Bears? Mike Florio implores Chicago to trade for HC

Florio believes that hiring the right head coach could solve most of the Bears' problems and that Kyle Shanahan might be the perfect fit. He added that the 49ers could be tempted to move on from their head coach if the price is right, as they were in the past. The analyst said:

"For conversation purposes, what would you give up to get Kyle Shanahan? How much would you give up to get him? Because I think you should at least have that conversation because the 49ers almost traded Jim Harbaugh to the Browns 10 years ago."

"Harbaugh said no or else they would have done it. Who knows? If Jed York is thinking about making a change, this might be a great opportunity."

While it's a radical suggestion, it has happened and worked out in the past. Most famously, the New England Patriots had to give up a first-round and a seventh-round pick to the New York Jets to land Bill Belichick. Belichick resigned after one day as the Jets' head coach in 2000.

More recently, the Denver Broncos gave up two draft picks to acquire the rights to Sean Payton from the New Orleans Saints.