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49ers HC Kyle Shanahan Loves Lions OC Ben Johnson's Running Game

Coach's have a tough time praising each other.

Grant Cohn

Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16), left, talks to offensive coordinator Ben Johnson before a play against Chicago Bears during the first half at Ford Field in Detroit on Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024.
Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16), left, talks to offensive coordinator Ben Johnson before a play against Chicago Bears during the first half at Ford Field in Detroit on Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Just a few years ago, Kyle Shanahan was the hottest offensive coach on the planet Ben Johnson was a complete nobody.

Now Shanahan is having a decidedly down season and Johnson has become the no. 1 offensive coordinator in the NFL. Suddenly, Johnson's offense seems much more creative and cutting-edge than Shanahan's offense. Funny how much can change in a relatively short time.

On Saturday, I asked Kyle Shanahan what he likes about Johnson's offense.

“I don't know him, but I've really respected what he’s done here the last few years," Shanahan said. "I know people who've worked with him. I know Chris Foerster, Brian Fleury, those guys worked with him down in Miami, talked about him as a dude, which he seems like an awesome guy. But I really love how he's ran the ball and the stuff he's done off of it and really taken advantage of his personnel really well.”

TRANSLATION: Johnson is really good and Shanahan admires his creativity in the run game and the play-action passing game, but Johnson also has great players. Plus he has been good only for a few years. He needs to prove that he has longevity and that the league won't catch up to him the way it seems to have caught up to Kyle Shanahan and his coaching tree this season (see Mike McDaniel in Miami and Bobby Slowik in Houston. Both came from the 49ers and both are struggling just like Shanahan).

Coach's have a tough time praising each other.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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