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Before Vic Fangio was winning Super Bowls with the Philadelphia Eagles, named the head coach of the Denver Broncos, or redefining the modern NFL defense with the Chicago Bears, he was making a name for himself with the San Francisco 49ers, where he coached a defense headlined by NaVorro Bowman, Patrick Willis, and Aldon Smith.
So, with the Eagles now set to take on the 49ers in the Wildcard Round of the 2026 NFL Playoffs, how does it feel for Fangio to see his career come full circle? Well, in his Week 19 media availability session, Fangio commented on just that, recalling his run last decade with some of the best defensive players around under head coach Jim Harbaugh.
“It’s been a while. 2014, that’s 11 or 12 years. We had a lot of success there. We won a lot of games, went to three straight championship games, won the Super Bowl. Really enjoyed it out there. Met my partner out there that I’m still with, so I always tell her that that was the best place I’ve been for that reason. I enjoyed it out there,” Fanfio told reporters.
“We had a lot of good players, guys that I really enjoyed coaching. Still stay in touch with some of them, like [former 49ers DE] Justin Smith, [former 49ers LB] Patrick Willis, [former 49ers LB] NaVorro Bowman, [former 49ers LB] Ahmad Brooks, [former 49ers LB] Aldon Smith, could go on and on. [Former 49ers S Dashon] Goldson, [former 49ers S Donte] Whitner. We had a lot of good players.”
Asked about how the 49ers play today, Fangio noted that they have a very good offensive scheme that will personally challenge him for much of the game on Sunday.
“Yeah, lots of them. They have a really good scheme. It’s all packaged together very nicely. They give you a lot of good motions. Everything they do is with a purpose, and they do a really good job of it,” Fangio said. “Obviously, [49ers QB Brock] Purdy operates it very well, [49ers RB Christian] McCaffrey’s an elite back, got a good group of receivers, [49ers TE George] Kittle at tight end. I mean, they had a run where they were [the] hottest offense in the league for like six, seven weeks in a row.”
While the Eagles have had some key successes against the 49ers during the Nick Sirianni era, beating the team on the way to their first Super Bowl run in 2022, Fangio has yet to coach against Kyle Shanahan and company with his hometown team, with his last game against the team coming all the way back in 2018 when he was a member of the Bears organization. Fortunately for Fangio, Shanahan’s offensive scheme is almost as popular as his defense, so the veteran coordinator should be plenty prepared for what the 49ers could throw his way at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.
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