Going into the NFL Honors awards show Thursday night in Phoenix, a major question centered around who would win Coach of the Year. One of the candidates expected to get votes was San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan.

There were a bunch of worthy choices for this year's award, but at the end, the winner was New York Giants coach Brian Daboll.

The race was expected to be close, but as Ralph Vacchiano of FOX Sports points out, Kyle Shanahan came within a single vote of being named coach of the year.

If Shanahan was the choice for said voter, there's a compelling case for it. He was able to lead the 49ers to their second straight NFC Championship Game appearance, and did so after losing their starting quarterback (Trey Lance) and the backup (Jimmy Garoppolo). Shanahan was able to groom Brock Purdy, who was the absolute last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, into a serviceable QB that could run his offense efficiently.

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With that said, choosing Daboll isn't exactly bad in it's own right. The Giants weren’t looked at as a team that could make much noise this season, but Daboll, who is in his first year at the position, was able to lead the team to the playoffs with a 9-7-1 record. Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Pederson wasn't too far behind Daboll and Shanahan. All Pederson did was turn a team that had the first overall pick the last two seasons into the AFC South champions.

Bottom line, this voting could have went a number of ways, and it shows with how close it ultimately was.