GAME REVIEW

OFFENSE

At some point, you had to know those 49ers drives that turned into field goals (three of them) would come back to hurt them. The only Niner who seemed to get going was Jauan Jennings, whose 15 minutes of fame stretched into a couple of hours as he joined Philadelphia’s Nick Foles as the only players to catch a TD pass and throw one in the Super Bowl. Brock Purdy (23-for-38, 255 yards, one TD, one sack) was good, but not great. Christian McCaffrey piled up 160 yards from scrimmage (80 both rushing and receiving), but needed 30 touches to do so. Deebo Samuel was kept in check (41 total yards) and George Kittle was just short of being invisible (two catches, 4 yards).

DEFENSE

The inevitability of Patrick Mahomes becoming Patrick Mahomes finally surfaced on the game-winning drive. The 49ers couldn’t keep him from converting a 3rd-and-6 (13-yard completion) and a 3rd-and-1 (19-yard run) before he threw the game-ending TD pass. The impact of losing LB Dre Greenlaw to a noncontact Achilles injury can’t be overstated. Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce, so irritated early that he nearly knocked over head coach Andy Reid, finished with game highs in receptions (nine) and receiving yards (93). The Chiefs, whose first four possessions lasted 15 plays and covered 87 yards, finished with 79 plays and 455 yards.

SPECIAL TEAMS

No S.F. fan will ever again take extra points for granted. Jake Moody’s blocked add-on point was a reason the game went into overtime and arguably the reason San Francisco is not in possession of Lombardi Trophy No. 6. This unit had been stellar early in the game as Moody kicked a short-lived Super Bowl-record 55-yard field goal and Mitch Wishnowsky’s first two punts were better than 50 yards and his third was downed at the 1-yard-line. Then rookie Darrell Luter Jr. was hit on the ankle by a Kansas City punt, the Chiefs recovered the loose ball and scored on the next play. Moody’s missed extra-point try came with 11:22 to play in the fourth quarter.

COACHING

Kyle Shanahan certainly didn’t get conservative with his decision to go for it facing a 4th-and-3 from the Chiefs’ 15 in the fourth quarter. The Niners converted it and scored two plays later on Jennings’s catch. Jennings was involved in what until then had been the play of the game when Shanahan called for a lateral-and-pass that went from Purdy to Jennings to McCaffrey for the game’s first touchdown.

OVERALL

Shanahan gets another year — at least — of hearing that he can’t win the big one. Moody gets to spend his first offseason as a pro hearing about all the kicks he missed down the stretch. And the 49ers, once the belle of the Super Bowl ball with a 5-0 record, are most decidedly championship-game bridesmaids now, having lost each of their past three appearances.