With just over seven minutes to go in the 4th quarter, the San Francisco 49ers led the Kansas City Chiefs 20-10. They had a 96% win probability at that point before the Chiefs rallied to score 21 unanswered points to win 31-20. There’s some blame to go around for that collapse – blown coverage that allowed Tyreek Hill to get downfield and convert a 3rd & 15, Jimmy Garoppolo missing Emmanuel Sanders on what would’ve been the game-winning touchdown, the offensive pass interference call on George Kittle (it was the right call, mind you). But, mostly, I put this one on Kyle Shanahan.
For the second time in four years, Shanahan got way too conservative with a lead and ended up blowing it. It happened when he was the offensive coordinator with the Atlanta Falcons, playing the New England Patriots after the 2016 season. And, it happened last night.
To close out the first half, Shanahan basically rolled over instead of getting aggressive and trying to put points on the board. Neglecting to call a timeout when the Chiefs were stopped on a third down, he allowed 40 seconds to run off the clock. When they got the ball, that interference call on Kittle kept them from putting any points on the board. If only they had had 40 more seconds, maybe they would’ve had a shot. I don’t understand that exchange – at the time, I tweeted, “I hope that doesn’t come back to bite Shanahan in the ass.” Guess what – it did.
Then, in the 4th quarter, Shanahan focused on “moving the chains” instead of burning clock. In two drives, they only burned four minutes off the clock. They ran the ball just three times on those two drives, and threw five times. That’s not the formula for this team. Deebo Samuel had a hell of a first half – where was he after halftime? Dude averaged 17.7 yards per carry on three carries. Raheem Mostert was averaging 4.8 YPC. Tevin Coleman was averaging 5.6 YPC. Why would you get away from this? All in all, the 49ers attempted 31 passes and only had 22 total carries. That ain’t it, chief.
It seemed he was so bent on stopping that Chiefs offense, or at the very least, keeping the ball away from them, that he got away from the bread and butter of what the 49ers do best. There’s an aura about this Chiefs offense that gets you out of what you do best. We saw it in the AFC Championship when the Tennessee Titans gave up on running Derrick Henry late. And, we saw it last night.
Even though they had done a tremendous job of frustrating Patrick Mahomes all evening, it was still in the back of Shanahan’s mind that this dude could just take over and rattle off points at will. Ultimately, that’s what ended up happening. They say, ‘scared money don’t make money,’ and that’s a nice little analogy to Shanahan’s game plan last night.
You’re not in a position to rely on Jimmy G throwing bombs without this lapse in play-calling. You’re not in a position to be completely undone by a blown coverage on Hill if you don’t waste offensive possessions late. One play, like Kittle committed OPI, doesn’t hurt you if your overall game plan is a little more sound.
The 49ers were running the ball successfully. They didn’t have to get away from it. But, they did – it reeks of panic. Shanahan explained his decision-making to the media last night:
Kyle Shanahan is going to have this ‘big game choker’ reputation until he can win the big one. At this point, it’s just fodder for sports talk. It just so happens that he’s the offensive architect of the two biggest Super Bowl collapses of all time. That’s tough.
But, I don’t want to beat up on the guy too much, because I do think he’s right in what he said to the media last night.
This is a young team that’s loaded with talent. He’s still one of the best play callers in the entire NFL. That division is going to be tough year in and year out, but I believe the 49ers will be back. You just know these opportunities aren’t guaranteed for anybody, and though you’d like to think “we’ll be back,” you really never know.
For Shanahan’s sake, I hope the 49ers do make it back.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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