FTW: Kyle Shanahan should avoid the 49ers job

Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan is the architect behind the eighth highest-scoring offense in NFL history. He turned Matt Ryan into an MVP candidate while building a dynamic run game and keeping a deep group of receivers involved all season. It was a tremendous balancing act by one of the brightest offensive minds in the league.

The 49ers, the lone NFL team without a head coach, would be lucky to land such a high profile coach after the last three years, during which owner Jed York has ran three head coaches out of town, including Jim Harbaugh, who led the team to three consecutive NFC Championship appearances.

San Francisco will undoubtedly try to convince Shanahan to come to the Bay Area, but the 37-year-old should turn down the 49ers' offer.

Why would Shanahan want to leave Atlanta - and guys like Julio Jones and Devonta Freeman - for a team with no quarterback and a dearth of offensive playmakers? The 49ers rosters is still years away from competency, but the incompetent owner seems to think the team should win now. And when it doesn't, don't expect York, who runs the organization, to hold himself accountable.

Chip Kelly and Jim Tomsula got one year apiece despite overseeing one of the least talented rosters in the league. Give Bill Belichick or Pete Carroll that team, and you're getting roughly the same results. There's nothing worse for a coach than an owner with unrealistic expectations. Having worked Dan Snyder, who played a part in the Redskins changing their successful offensive scheme to please Robert Griffin III, Shanahan knows how crippling an overbearing owner can be for a coaching staff.

You only get so many chances to prove yourself as an NFL coach. Taking on the mess in San Francisco would, more than likely, burn one of those chances for Shanahan. It's going to require more than good coaching to turn the once-great franchise around. Shanahan could draw up best scheme imaginable and it wouldn't matter if the front office doesn't improve the roster dramatically.

Colin Kaepernick was solid in Chip Kelly's system, which tends to inflate his quarterback's stats, but he isn't a long-term answer. Carlos Hyde is a good running back but can't stay healthy. The receiving corps was led by Jeremy Kerley, whom the 49ers brought off the street weeks before the season started.

No coach is winning with that roster. Only a desperate one would take the job given the owner's reputation. At 37, Shanahan doesn't need to be desperate. Better opportunities will come along.

Shanahan has been successful everywhere he's been. In his nine years as an offensive coordinator - for the Texans, Redskins, Browns and Falcons - he's produced six top-10 offenses. He's had success with guys like Griffin, Brian Hoyer and Matt Schaub, among others. Give him a good quarterback, like Ryan, and Shanahan produces the league's best offense.

This is a league where Andrew Lucks' coach in perpetually on the hot seat. The same goes for Matthew Stafford's coach. With a little patience, Shanahan will find himself a high-profile job with a franchise quarterback. He's not going to find that in San Francisco.