MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The two men palmed their Coronas and stood guard outside the tiny white cinderblock office inside the 49ers' locker room where Kyle Shanahan sat quietly on a grey swivel chair. He looked all at once like the young, cocksure wunderkind who stretched the limits of offensive theory in the NFL and an aging football lifer batted around by yet another unseen gut punch on the sidelines of the game’s biggest stage.
John Lynch, the 49ers general manager and a former player, and Mike Shanahan, the father and former head coach, have both been there.