49ers pull off their biggest upset in 14 years: Why Kyle Shanahan was 'pissed' about the point spread vs. Rams

With four NFC title games and two Super Bowl appearances under his belt, Kyle Shanahan has accomplished a lot during his time in San Francisco, but before Thursday night, he had never led his team to a win in a game where they were an underdog of seven points or more. 

Since taking over the 49ers' coaching job in 2017, there had been 11 games where Shanahan's team was an underdog of at least a touchdown, and heading into the 2025 season, they had gone 0-11 in those games. 

When the Vegas odds came out this week for San Francisco's NFC West showdown against the Los Angeles Rams, the 49ers were actually only a 3-point underdog, but once it became clear that several key players were going to miss the game -- like Brock Purdy, Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall -- the point spread ballooned by 5.5 points to the Rams being favored by 8.5 

Some coaches might not pay attention to that stuff, but apparently, Shanahan does. Following the 49ers' 26-23 upset win over the Rams, Mac Jones revealed that Shanahan was actually "pissed" at the fact that the point spread kept growing over the course of the week. And no, Jones wasn't just randomly talking about point spreads after the game, he was asked how it felt to be such a big underdog. 

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"I don't really pay attention to much of it," Jones said. "I don't really do social media that much, but Kyle came up to me and he was pissed about it. So he's like, 'Dude, I can't believe they moved us to underdogs again or more.'"

Based on Jones' comments, it's pretty clear that Shanahan wasn't happy when the point spread kept moving toward the Rams later in the week. 

"I am like, 'I don't know what that means really, but yeah, let's go kill them,'" Jones said. "He was pissed about it. I was like, 'Yeah, I'm pissed too.'"

If Shanahan used the point spread as a way to motivate his team, then it definitely worked. 

Jones, who threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns in the win, was definitely in a good mood as he recounted the Shanahan story with reporters after the game. 

The win by the 49ers was their biggest as an underdog since 2011 when Jim Harbaugh led San Francisco to a 24-23 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in a game where Philly was favored by 10. The 49ers also won a game as a 7.5-point underdog in 2015, which was their last win in a game where their opponent was favored by at least a touchdown. Going into Thursday, the 49ers had lost 22 straight games when they were an underdog of seven points or more, including 11 of those with Shanahan.