(Image via Getty: Kyle Shanahan) Sports media personality Dov Kleiman recently shared footage of San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan’s first press conference from the 2017 NFL Combine. Kleiman then placed the coach’s current photo [from 2025 season] next to it.The NFL aggregator captioned it: “𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚: 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan has gone viral with fans SHOCKED at how different he looks from his first press conference at the NFL combine compared to now. He literally looks like a completely different person. Kyle has aged 25 years in just nine seasons. [three exploding head emojis].”
Kyle Shanahan before and after experiencing the EM field at the Niners practice facility
Nine seasons are nine long years. It is not nine days, weeks, or months, but years. Almost a decade. After nearly 10 years, facial aging begins to show: prominent wrinkles, sagging skin, loss of volume at the cheeks, thin skin, dryness, bone changes, and eventual loss of a youthful look.In 2017, Shanahan was 38 years old. In 2026, he will be 47 in Dec. From 38 to 47 is a span of 9 years, and certain facial changes are bound to appear. However, some cybercitizens say otherwise. They blame the substation next to Levi’s Stadium, claiming electromagnetic field from a nearby substate is somehow causing the aging effect on the head coach.“All those practices next to that power plant will do that to ya,” said one X user. Another speculated, “Probably that massive substation.” A third urged, “They really need to move that substation.” A fourth said, “You would too if you worked next to that power station.” A fifth user captioned: “Kyle Shanahan before and after experiencing the low-frequency electromagnetic field at the Niners practice facility” and shared images of Ian McDiarmid as Sheev Palpatine and his alter ego, Darth Sidious from Star Wars.
Brutal reality of being an NFL head coach
One user blamed it on the head coach’s position and thanked X’s AI Grok for the answer, saying, “That’s ruff, take care of your body and mind yall ‘Shanahan’s visible aging is far more plausibly explained by the brutal reality of being an NFL head coach: high stress, long hours, playoff disappointments, roster pressures, and the general toll of the job’ Thanks Grok.”
Pressure is showing on face
Another wrote, “This is what happens when you play in the NFC west.” A third user expressed, “Thats what happens when half your roster is injured year after year.” A fourth user said, “Pressure is showing on his face,” while another called it “The Brandon Aiyuk effect.” There have been contract disputes with the 27-year-old wide receiver. Finally, a user declared, “He [Kyle Shanahan]’s almost 50 years old. He looks exactly his age.”