Here’s why Kyle Shanahan, Matt LaFleur and Sean McVay jokes need to stop

This might be news to some of you, so sit down, because this is big. Did you know that Kyle Shanahan, Matt LaFleur and Sean McVay all used to be on the Washington Commanders’ coaching staff nearly a decade ago?

This is basically breaking news and totally hasn’t been overblown on social media since the playoffs — which at one point featured the Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams — got underway.

Just kidding! It’s been shoved down the throat of Washington fans at every turn. Between Sunday’s NFC Championship Game and ESPN’s Adam Schefter reminding his Twitter followers before the game, there’s been no escape.

It’s been regurgitated so many times that Washington Twitter has started pretending like it’s old news … which it kind of is! The jokes were funny at first, but like any overused punchline, it’s lost nearly all of its juice.

Need another reason to stop cracking jokes? Well, check out this eerily similar graphic of the Miami Dolphins’ coaching staff in 2006.

Stop poking fun at the Washington Commanders for Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay and Matt LaFleur.

Well, well, well. What do we have here? It’s almost like up-and-coming assistants spending time on the same coaching staff isn’t unheard of. Who knew? Most Washington fans, actually, but not most of NFL Twitter, which has laid into the Commanders for letting all three “prodigies” slip through their fingertips.

And while we’re on the subject, neither one of Shanahan, McVay or LaFleur covered themselves in glory this postseason. With everything lined up for LaFleur’s Packers to reach and win the Super Bowl, they choked at home in the Divisional Round.

Another Shanahan-led team just blew another double-digit lead in the second half of a playoff game (see Super Bowl LI) and the Rams defeated the 49ers on Sunday in spite of McVay, who did everything in his power to make sure his team had no timeouts while it was trying to mount a comeback.

Yes, they are some of the better head coaches the NFL has to offer, but let’s not pretend like Washington let the next Joe Gibbs walk through the door. In addition, they didn’t hire Jay Gruden instead of one of Shanahan, McVay or LaFleur. When the hire was made in 2014, that trio wasn’t ready to coach yet.

Shanahan spent another three seasons as an offensive coordinator, one with Cleveland and two with Atlanta. McVay was Gruden’s OC for three seasons before he was given the Rams’ head coaching job in 2017.

LaFleur had an even longer path. He went back to Notre Dame to be the Fighting Irish’s quarterbacks coach in 2014. From there, he worked under Shanahan as the Falcons’ QBs coach from 2015 to 2017 and served as the Rams’ and Titans’ OC in 2017 and 2018 before he made his way to Green Bay in 2019.

You can even argue the Dolphins ’06 staff was more stacked.

Though he didn’t pan out in the NFL, Nick Saban has made Alabama the Patriots’ of college football, Kirby Smart just helped Georgia capture its first NCAA championship since 1980 and Jason Garrett and Dan Quinn have combined to post a 128-109 record as NFL head coaches.

The jokes were funny (sort of) to start, but we think we speak for all Washington fans when we say they should end here.

Between the Dolphins’ loaded 2006 staff and the way Shanahan, McVay and LaFleur coached in these playoffs, it’s time to put this narrative to rest.