Report: Kyle Shanahan Told 49ers Staffers He Could Win Super Bowl with Nick Mullens

San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan does not lack for confidence. In fact, during the 2020 season he told 49ers staffers he believed he could win a Super Bowl with Nick Mullens at the helm.

Seth Wickersham of ESPN reported Shanahan had "soured" on Jimmy Garoppolo and expressed his faith behind the scenes in Mullens, who replaced an injured Garoppolo for 10 games that season.

The 49ers went 2-6 in games started by Mullens in 2020 and were 3-3 in Garoppolo's six starts. Mullens left San Francisco for Cleveland in the offseason and Garopplo remained as the 49ers' starting quarterback, so it appears Shanahan's faith was shortlived.

While never a superstar, Garoppolo did compile a 38-17 record in 55 starts under Shanahan. It was Garoppolo's inability to stay healthy that proved to be his undoing, as Brock Purdy took over for the veteran late in the 2022 season and never ceded his job.

The faith in Mullens may have been more a byproduct of Shanahan's frustration with Garoppolo than any true belief in Mullens as a franchise quarterback. Months after making the comments about Mullens, Shanahan would sell the farm to trade up and select Trey Lance with the No. 3 pick in the 2021 NFL draft—in large part hoping to move on from Garoppolo.

When Lance was seemingly set to take over the starting job ahead of the 2022 season, the only reason Garoppolo wound up staying in San Francisco was due to the 49ers' inability to trade him due to shaky medicals. Garoppolo signed a reworked one-year contract and wound up taking over for Lance when he suffered a season-ending injury.

Both Lance and Garoppolo are now plying their trades elsewhere after the sudden ascent of Purdy, the last pick in the 2022 NFL draft.