Kyle Shanahan is ready to meet the moment - ESPN

DURING THE ANNUAL NFL league meetings in the spring of 2022, Kyle Shanahan ran into Sean McVay. It was the first time the two men — buddies, competitors, and former co-workers, two people who have set out on a journey to master their craft — had talked since McVay won Super Bowl LVI. McVay, of course, didn't just win a championship. He won it partly at Shanahan's expense, by undoing a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.

There was a little bit of casual awkwardness, not only because McVay had accomplished what has eluded Shanahan, not only because the 49ers had dropped what could have been a potential game-ending interception against the Los Angeles Rams, but because, well, it was Kyle.

He has no poker face. He sometimes tries to hide feelings — rage, pain, disdain, contempt — but he can't fake it for long.

Which version of Shanahan would McVay get? Petulant? Gracious? Edgy? Endearing?

Sure enough, Shanahan was still raw. At first, he said he didn't watch the Super Bowl. That he couldn't watch it. Then he fessed up that he watched a half. «That was f---ing hard to watch you guys win.»

The two chatted for a bit, a rare moment when they don't want to slay each other. «He is a special coach,» McVay says. «And he knows how much I respect the way he does it.»

It was another reminder not only of what Shanahan hasn't accomplished, but that time is passing. He and his peers from last decade's Washington teams are no longer precocious, no longer dealing with a blank canvas, no longer just getting started. Legacies are beginning to harden. Another year had passed with Kyle Shanahan — the alpha of his dad's tree, one of the NFL's premier artists, the one with the football