49ers' Kyle Shanahan: Idea he's in Sean McVay's head is 'ridiculous'

The San Francisco 49ers have had the Los Angeles Rams' number as of late. San Francisco holds six consecutive victories over its rival heading into Sunday's NFC Championship Game at SoFi Stadium, and Rams head coach Sean McVay recently found himself pouring cold water over the notion that Kyle Shanahan of the 49ers is "in his head" with a berth in the Super Bowl on the line this weekend. 

McVay's counterpart touched upon the matter on Thursday. 

"A question like that is just giving Sean and myself way too much credit," Shanahan said of the "silly" idea he has some mental advantage over McVay, according to Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. "We’re coaches. Watch what’s going on on that field and some of the players out there and the people that are competing and think that it’s about Sean and I — I mean. I know he doesn’t feel that way and he knows I don’t feel that way. The entertainment of this business is cool and stuff because it brings a lot of fans and it brings a lot of money for everybody. I think that’s pretty ridiculous. I don’t give coaches that much credit." 

The previous day, 49ers linebacker Fred Warner went to bat for often-criticized quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and said the team believes in the signal-caller "because we keep winning" regardless of Garoppolo's lackluster numbers this postseason. Something similar could hold true regarding Shanahan versus McVay. For a piece published on Jan. 14, Bill Bender of Sporting News ranked McVay sixth and Shanahan 10th in his playoff head-coach power rankings. 

At some point, Shanahan will deserve his flowers if he continues to notch victories over McVay, particularly in must-win situations.