Mitch McConnell

WGN is apologizing for airing a meme of Kyle Shanahan as Mitch McConnell during a news segment on the NFL head coach's recovery from a recent car crash ... telling TMZ the epic screwup was NOT malicious.

The station tells TMZ ... "On Wednesday's 'WGN Morning News Show' sports segment, we mistakenly aired a photo of Kyle Shanahan, coach of the San Francisco 49ers. The photo was an internet meme and not authentic, and we apologize for making the error. It was not intentional."

WGN's apology comes as the network continues to get dragged online.

The meme features Shanahan's face photoshopped over McConnell's mug in the Kentucky Senator's infamous proof-of-life photo from earlier this month.

McConnell's wife Elaine Chao should have been a dead giveaway ... but this one slipped past WGN's producers and editors and made it onto the air.

Mitch is said to be recovering from a fall at his home ... though lots of folks think he's in bad shape, or worse.

Shanahan is the subject of conspiracy theories too ... there are a lot of unanswered questions around his major car crash ... which was so severe he nearly lost an eye.

Shanahan has yet to appear in public ... and only broke his silence about the crash after police mistakenly blamed the driver he hit for the collision.

As far as McConnell memes ... well, there's no shortage of those.