SHORT OF SUPER
With a fourth quarter lead, a sixth title was in sight — but 49ers couldn’t stop Chiefs’ quarterback and offense
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The door to the 49ers’ locker room opened, and there was silence.
The joy, the fun, the lightness and the laughter that had surrounded this team all season, and especially in recent weeks during its surprising run to the Super Bowl, had vanished. Drained away.
Just as what seemed to be a sure Super Bowl victory leaked away from the 49ers in the final six minutes of the game.
“I thought the momentum was going our way,” defensive lineman Arik Armstead said. “To be right there and not be able to get the job done. It definitely hurts.”
The 49ers had it. They could almost feel the heft and smoothness of that sixth Lombardi trophy.
They had a 10point lead midway through the final quarter. Their amazing defense was on the field, but they could not get the critical stop. Their offense could not get another score when necessary. On a cool, breezy Florida night, the 49ers lost a heartbreaker Sunday to the Kansas City Chiefs, whose quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, was, indeed, the differencemaker so many had predicted.
The final score of Super Bowl LIV was 3120.
“They’re just hurting,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said of his team.
Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo did not turn into Joe Montana, who in Super Bowl XXIII found wide receiver John Taylor for the winning touch
down in the end zone at the same Miami stadium.
“We missed some shots tonight,” Garoppolo said. “We didn’t make some plays we normally make.”
The turning point may have been early in the fourth quarter when the defense had Mahomes on the run. He looked rattled, under pressure. He had thrown his second interception of the second half. A scoring drive by the 49ers could have brought them close to sealing a victory.
But the 49ers couldn’t convert that turnover into points. They ended up punting, and then Mahomes turned on his magic.
“The defense put us in position to win the game and we didn’t get it done,” 49ers tight end George Kittle said. Then the defense, in turn, didn’t get it done. Mahomes, who was named the game’s Most Valuable Player, led two touchdown drives in the final 6:13 of the game to give the Chiefs a fourpoint lead, and then Damien Williams went around the left end for a 38yard touchdown run that was just frosting on the cake.
It was an explosion that occurred within just a few minutes. The Raiders are familiar with the experience. The Titans became familiar with it. And now the 49ers have had the Mahomes Experience. It’s not fun to try to contain. “They can score very fast,” Shanahan said. Yes, indeed. They can. There were a few controversial moments. Shanahan will be secondguessed for not calling timeout before the Chiefs punted near the end of the first half. He let about 40 seconds run off the clock — time that could have been spent on a drive to break the 1010 tie. But he explained his thought process.
“The last thing we’re going to do there is allow them to get the ball with three timeouts left and go down and score before the half,” he said.
The 49ers did try to score, but Kittle was called for offensive pass interference, a tickytack call.
“The ref made the call, I’ve got to live with it,” Kittle said.
Less questionable was the pass interference penalty on defensive back Tarvarius Moore that set up the Chiefs’ fourth quarter touchdown that drew them to within three points of the 49ers. Overall, the outcome wasn’t really about blown calls or bad decisions. It was about execution in the critical moments of the game.
The final score delighted the thousands of Chiefs fans on hand. Though it was hard to tell because everyone in the stadium was wearing red, judging by volume, there were more Chiefs fans in Hard Rock Stadium than 49ers Faithful.
Whereas the 49ers franchise once took pride in never having lost in a Super Bowl appearance, they have now lost in their last two. Their record in the stadium where the Dolphins play is now 21 in the NFL’s biggest game.
To a man, the 49ers knew they had missed an opportunity. They are young. Most of them have never been here, never even been close. But they know enough to know these moments are rare.
“These are the moments you dream of,” Garoppolo said. “We just couldn’t finish it off.”
With a win the 49ers would have tied the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers with six Super Bowl victories. Instead, they remain stuck at five.
A quartercentury drought and counting.