The San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers will meet in the NFC Divisional round this weekend, putting the two head coaches in the spotlight. Those coaches have a longtime friendship, but that will clearly not be in play here.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and Packers coach Matt LaFleur raised some eyebrows with a somewhat frosty handshake after the teams’ Week 3 meeting despite their long-standing friendship. On Monday, Shanahan insisted there were no issues between the two, but things would not be collegial this week.
“Matt’s my guy. Matt and I are totally good,” Shanahan said, via David Bonilla of 49ers Web Zone. “I was pissed after that game because of how the game just ended. That was a tough one. It took a while to get over. But we’re good. I talked to Matt a lot. He’s done a hell of a job this year. I’ve been real happy for him, but that stops this week.”
There are plenty of NFL coaches with positive relationships with each other, though Shanahan and LaFleur are uncommonly close. They came up in coaching together and are unapologetically friendly most of the time. While there have clearly been some bumps in the road, Shanahan is telling the truth here. That said, the two will very much be at odds this weekend.
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