Did coach Shanahan’s conservative ways cost Niners a Super Bowl?
San Fran played better for three quarters, but a few key plays made the difference
The face told you everything. Kyle Shanahan’s eyes looked moist as he made his way to the field, seeking out Andy Reid for the traditional post-game handshake and from afar, as he searched the field, he looked like he was going to cry.
The ending was that emotional for the coach of the San Francisco 49ers, a pain that may stay with him until his Super Bowl opportunity comes again.
On a Sunday night in which almost everything went right for the Niners for three quarters, from game planning to quality of play to the way they attacked Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, playing 50 minutes of quality football wasn’t enough for Shanahan and the 49ers to get a ring. They needed 10 more minutes without mistakes and breaks going against them.
“Honestly,” said Shanahan after the game, “Kansas City played a good game. They were better than us today.”
That’s half right. Kansas City did play a good game. But if you measure the game by who held the edge, quarter to quarter, series by series, this should be the Niners celebrating today and the young coach, some call him a football genius, would not be questioned for how he let this get away.
“We had an opportunity to win and came up short,” he said. “Win or lose, this isn’t going to change the way I feel about our team … We can deal with (the loss). But it’s disappointing.”
Early on in Super Bowl LIV, the star quarterback was not Mahomes, it was Jimmy Garoppolo. He was economical, sharp, and the Shanahan play calling seemed perfectly matched to his unspectacular quarterback. Early on, he completed passes with ease and the vaunted San Francisco running game, so dominant in the two previous playoff games, was just OK against the Chiefs. Just OK usually gets you beat and in this case, as the game went on and memories of the Atlanta Falcons Super Bowl collapse against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, when Shanahan was the offensive co-ordinator in Atlanta, came to mind.
Why didn’t the Falcons run the ball when they had a huge lead? Why didn’t they manage the clock better against the Patriots? What was Shanahan thinking?
Reid, for all his wins, has never been known as a great manager of time in close games. Both he and Shanahan run just about the most refined offences in football, as different as they may be. But Shanahan hasn’t had a close playoff game as a head coach to worry about before this Super Bowl.
He didn’t crash out Sunday night but in the fourth quarter, when he needed a first down and the Chiefs were looking vulnerable, the Niners had their first three-and-out. The only one of the game. One first down might have changed the entire picture of the clock on a night when calls didn’t necessarily go the 49ers way.
San Francisco tight end George Kittle caught a long pass in the first half and was flagged for offensive pass interference. The call was dubious, maybe correct, maybe not. A few weeks earlier, New Orleans got knocked out of the playoffs on an end zone catch by Minnesota’s Kyle Rudolph, when he pushed off and there was no penalty.
The Kittle push was less than the Rudolph push: One week it’s pass interference and game changing in a Super Bowl. The weeks before, it’s a touchdown. Welcome to NFL officiating.
That wasn’t the only call San Francisco could question. Chiefs running back Damien Williams took a short pass and scored in the fourth quarter — his first of two touchdowns — and clearly he stepped out of bounds at around the two-yard line. Maybe he stepped out before reaching with the ball and crossing the goalline. Maybe he didn’t. The replays weren’t clear. But you could make a case — as my vision did — that Williams didn’t score on the play and had it been called that way, who knows what happens next?
Leading 20-10 and not just controlling Mahomes but punishing the young quarterback, who passed for just 146 yards in three quarters, Shanahan had put his team in position to win.
We had an opportunity to win and came up short. Win or lose, this isn’t going to change the way I feel about our team.
“We had a two-score lead,” he said. “But we had to move the chains to get first downs. We didn’t in our two possessions (in the fourth quarter) and they did. That’s how it ended up.”
Shanahan still had things to answer for post-game. Why not call time out near the end of the first half when they were getting the ball back? Why be so conservative when they looked to be the better team? Why not jump all over the Chiefs when they appeared to be so vulnerable?
The 49ers are a good football team with perhaps a great football coach. But he took a hit in Super Bowl LIV. He looked almost perfect through three quarters, then lost, like the team, in the final 10 minutes.
“We’ll lick our wounds and get over this,” he said.
This winter will be a long one.