Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers lost 25-22 in the Super Bowl against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs with a very controversial decision by the head coach in overtime.
The 49ers won the coin toss, but, instead of deferring, they chose to keep the ball allowing Andy Reid to know exactly what his offense needed in their first possession. According to the new overtime rules, each team would have at least the ball once. It seemed like an advantage granted to the Chiefs.
Of course, the decision has sparked a massive controversy in the NFL because Mahomes is the greatest quarterback in clutch moments since Tom Brady. This was the first take by the 49ers head coach.
“It’s just something we talked about. None of us have a ton of experience with it, but we went through all the analytics and talked to those guys. We just thought it would be better. We wanted the ball third. If both teams matched and scored, we wanted to be the ones who had the chance to go win. Got that field goal, so knew we had to hold them to at least a field goal, and if we did, then we thought it was in our hands after that.”
Patrick Mahomes knew exactly what the Chiefs needed in overtime (Getty Images)
Kyle Shanahan explains why 49ers players didn’t know Super Bowl overtime rules
Now, the situation just took another level when many 49ers players such as Kyle Juszczyk admitted that they didn’t know the overtime rules before the coin toss in the Super Bowl.
Meanwhile, Andy Reid pointed out that the Kansas City Chiefs had many meetings in the two weeks prior to the game and they were convinced deferring was the best option.
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However, San Francisco made that choice for them and this was Shanahan’s take on what happened with his players. “We told everyone as we were waiting for the coin toss to review everyone to make sure they were sure before we go out. So, we asked position coaches to do that. But I didn’t cover it in a meeting on the Super Bowl week. I don’t think that changes anything.”
