San Francisco 49ers Coach Kyle Shanahan has an array of impressive accomplishments for a man still early in his professional career, and yet in the run-up to this year’s Super Bowl he faced repeated questions about one of his lowest moments. Sunday’s result ensured that those questions will continue to dog him in the future.
The 49ers led by 10 points entering the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LIV, with nearly all the momentum and a championship just 15 minutes away. After the Kansas City Chiefs unleashed their offense in an explosive final quarter, Kansas City emerged with a 31-20 victory, claiming its first NFL championship since 1970. And Shanahan, for a second time, was left wondering how a double-digit Super Bowl lead had disappeared.
Kansas City’s head coach, Andy Reid, has a career’s worth of experience managing tight postseason games; his teams have often fallen short in pressurized moments. Shanahan is just 40, but he has his own experience with playoff heartache. He was the offensive coordinator for the Falcons three years ago when Atlanta lost a 28-3 second-half lead against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. Shanahan received plenty of scrutiny after that loss, with critics charging that his play-calling turned too conservative too early, especially considering that Brady and Coach Bill Belichick were on the other sideline.
This time, it was Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes mounting a brilliant late-game rally. The Chiefs rediscovered their identity, putting the game on Mahomes’s shoulders and airing the ball out in a no-huddle offense. Kansas City’s perimeter stars — wideouts Tyreek Hill and Sammy Watkins, tight end Travis Kelce and running back Damien Williams — are too much for nearly any NFL defense when lined up alongside Mahomes.
Shanahan and the 49ers have an offensive identity of their own, based on the run game. And yet after Mahomes was intercepted with 12 minutes to play in the fourth quarter and San Francisco leading, 20-10, the 49ers ran the ball only five more times, gaining 32 yards. They attempted to pass it 12 times in that span. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo completed just three of his last 11 attempts and was intercepted once; another pass play ended in a sack.
In those two Super Bowls, Shanahan’s offenses have now been outscored 46-0 in the fourth quarter and overtime.
“I don’t think there’s anything to run away from,” Shanahan said last week, when asked about that previous Super Bowl loss. “I’m very proud of that year. I was proud of our team in Atlanta. I was proud of our players. And I thought we played a pretty darn good game. We were up 28-3 in the [third quarter] and we all know we did not play well in the fourth, didn’t coach well. But to sit there and run from something, I’m not going to run from that.”
A day after that loss, he was hired as the 49ers’ new coach, the next offensive wizard to lead a franchise once helmed by West Coast offense innovator Bill Walsh and quarterbacked by Joe Montana and Steve Young. Shanahan continued his coaching ascent by creating some of pro football’s most dizzying offenses, with an array of presnap shifts and a powerful running game.
The Niners averaged 29.9 points during the regular season, second behind only Baltimore. Garoppolo completed an efficient 69.1 percent of his passes, fifth in the league. Behind a rotating band of running backs, the 49ers were second in rushing yards and rookie Deebo Samuel led the NFL in rushing yards by a wide receiver, a benefit of Shanahan’s style of presnap motions and misdirection. The Chiefs weren’t cowed.
“Once you peel back, it’s a pretty simple offense,” Kansas City safety Tyrann Mathieu said on ESPN’s postgame broadcast. “They move a lot of guys, they motion a lot of guys. But it’s window dressing.”
Still, early on in the Super Bowl, that strategy of relative balance had the 49ers in the lead. On their second-quarter touchdown drive, they ran the ball four times and threw it three times, with a touchdown pass going to fullback Kyle Juszczyk. On their third-quarter touchdown drive — the one that gave the 49ers their largest lead of the night — they ran twice, including for the touchdown, and threw four times. And then, poof. Another Kyle Shanahan Super Bowl, another lost double-digit lead.
“We were just grateful those guys got out of the run and started to throw the ball,” Mathieu said.
Garoppolo completed 9 of 11 passing attempts in the first half. He was 11 of 20 in the second half. His 31 passing attempts were more than he attempted in San Francisco’s previous two playoff wins, combined.
There have been 3 teams in Super Bowl history to lose a 10-point 4th quarter lead. Kyle Shanahan called the offensive plays for 2 of them.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 3, 2020
After the 10-minute mark in the 4th quarter, Shanahan’s teams were outscored a combined 46-0 (including OT of Super Bowl LI). pic.twitter.com/j1a5cGXTKu
“We just didn’t get it done when we got the ball,” Shanahan told Fox’s Erin Andrews. “Came up short on just a couple plays. … When we had to answer we didn’t. When we had our chance to answer at the end. They made some good plays and we just missed them.”