Put Mike Shanahan In The Pro Football Hall Of Fame NOW!

Trey Daubert/NFL/January 19, 2022

Put Mike Shanahan In The Pro Football Hall Of Fame NOW!

I’ll be totally honest; I don’t normally love Hall of Fame debates. If I ever got inducted into any Hall of Fame, I’m not sure I’d care. If Barry Bonds isn’t in the Baseball one, who cares. However, I recently discovered-remembered that Mike Shanahan was never inducted into the Hall and it’s a damn travesty. Put Shanahan in the Hall NOW!

What am I missing here? Shanahan won two Super Bowls with an older John Elway that previously never won a title before. He modernized the Bill Walsh offense. Virtually every coach that comes from his coaching tree becomes successful. NOBODY in the history of the NFL churns out more stud running backs out of nowhere than Shanahan. AND this guy isn’t in the Hall? Why?

I can make the case that Shanahan is one of the most important coaches in the history of the NFL. He got Alfred Morris to rush for over 1,000 yards. Oh, so did Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson, Reuben Droughns, and Tatum Bell. His zone blocking scheme rushing attack will always work. In fact, it worked so well that the Broncos traded Clinton Portis because they always knew any bum off the street would be productive in their system… and they were right.

Think of all the great coaches that have come from the Shanahan coaching tree. Sean McVay, Gary Kubiak, and his son Kyle are the most notable. Don’t forget about Matt LaFleur who looks damn clever in Green Bay too. That Kevin Stefanski guy looks more than competent too. All of the disciples are working and it’s a tree that continues to grow. Mike LaFleur and Mike McDaniel are probably getting jobs in the near future as well.

Sure, maybe Shanahan doesn’t have the craziest winning percentage (.552) but neither did Bill Parcells. Wins and losses can’t be the end all be all for a coach. He convinced the universe Robert Griffin III was better than Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson. He also won 13 games with Jake Plummer who was out of the league two years later and had just one winning season with Arizona. His offensive philosophy is also used all over the NFL by some of the best minds in the league.