Chris Simms reveals scary detail from Kyle Shanahan's incident

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Chris Simms reveals scary detail from Kyle Shanahan's incident

By Ernesto Cova | Last updated Jul 27, 2026 3:56 PM ET

The San Francisco 49ers are dealing with a major health concern right now.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan suffered a car accident on July 14, and he’ll have to watch from the sidelines for a while.

The incident was disclosed 11 days after it happened, with the 49ers reportedly not wanting the information to leak before the start of training camp.

Now, with more details and time to process everything that happened, NFL analyst Chris Simms shared a scary detail from Shanahan’s incident. Apparently, he could’ve lost an eye.

San Francisco 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan almost lost an eye in car accident

“It was scary,” Simms said on “Pro Football Talk.” “All of a sudden, I get a text from Kyle's wife Mandy — she texts myself and my wife — and it's like ‘oh no, Kyle's been a part of some horrible accident.' She sent us some pictures right off the bat, and it was like ‘oh my gosh. 'He was this close to maybe losing his right eye. The scar is so big right here. So, all that stuff was just crazy to see.”

.@CSimmsQB shares what he knows about the injuries suffered by Kyle Shanahan in a recent car accident: "He was this close to maybe losing his right eye." pic.twitter.com/C3TsgxVHBN
— PFT Live (@PFT_Live) July 27, 2026

The renowned head coach suffered a severe concussion, three broken ribs, a broken hand, a broken nose and needed more than 40 stitches in the face after the accident. He reportedly collided with an SUV in California, though there haven’t been many more details about the situation.

There’s never a good time to go through anything like this, but Shanahan at least has a solid coaching staff to handle business while he gets back on his feet.

Of course, football should be the last thing going through Shanahan's mind right now.

But given his competitive nature and how close he's gotten to the big prize, he'll definitely push to get back on the sidelines in no time.

Ernesto Cova

Ernesto is a bilingual (English-Spanish) sports writer with over eight years of experience covering major leagues such as the NBA, NFL, and MLB. Ernesto’s work focuses on providing insightful, up-to-date coverage of sports, blending his expertise in sports psychology with a passion for analyzing player performance, team dynamics, and trade developments across various sports leagues

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