MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The elevation of a champion is the best part of a Super Bowl, as game MVP Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are learning amid the celebration of their 31-20 win over the 49ers on Sunday in Super Bowl 54.
The hyperbole surrounding the loser is the worst.
The typical absence of nuance plagued the narrative around San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan on social media as his team squandered a 20-10 lead in the last 6 1/2 minutes of the game. Naturally, the Falcons' historic loss to the Patriots in Super Bowl 51 three years ago was the reference point. With Shanahan calling the offensive plays as coordinator, Atlanta blew a 28-3 lead it held in the third quarter, and New England won the Super Bowl in overtime. How could this happen again?
The criticism of Shanahan now is even more unfair than it was then.
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This was not a case of a coach failing with his late-game clock management or play-calling; such a claim dismisses how the Chiefs exploded in the fourth quarter thanks to a spark from Mahomes and a mindset change within those on Kansas City's sideline.
"That team, that’s kind of how they’ve been all year," Shanahan said of the Chiefs after the game. "They’re not a team that does it every time. They get a little bit hot and cold. They can score very fast. That’s why there were two playoff games where they were cold to start and they were down, and then by halftime they fixed it in both games.
"We didn’t convert those third downs in the fourth quarter. You don't convert those third downs, you don’t get an explosive run, you don’t get too many chances."
As has been the criticism of Shanahan's play-calling against New England three years ago, some might be inclined to point to a perceived failure to run the ball more often to manage the clock as Kansas City was beginning its comeback — as if a 20-10 lead against these Chiefs, the first team in NFL history to erase three deficits of 10 or more points in a single postseason, is anything like a 28-3 lead over those Patriots.
At what point should he have done something differently?
On the 49ers' first possession of the fourth quarter, they ran twice on the first three plays, with Raheem Mostert getting stuffed by Daniel Sorensen and Chris Jones on the second. On the next play, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo checked to a pass play based on the look of the defense, but his throw to a slanting (and open) Deebo Samuel sailed over the receiver's head. A false start on tackle Joe Staley forced a third-and-long, and Garoppolo could only scramble for a few yards. Still, though, the 49ers were up two scores.
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What happened after Mitch Wishnowsky's punt changed the game. Mahomes found Tyreek Hill for a 44-yard bomb, and a few plays later, the Chiefs scored a touchdown to make it a three-point game. With their opponents getting hot, the 49ers could no longer afford to worry about the clock.
"That's the last thing you’re thinking about when you’re up three points and there is that much time left," Shanahan said when asked whether he wishes he would have called more run plays in the game's final six minutes. "The clock is not an issue at that time, especially with the timeouts.
"The issue was moving the chains. If you move the chains, then you will wind the clock."
Thanks largely to Jones, Kansas City's star lineman who was by far the most impactful defender down the stretch, San Francisco didn't get those first downs. The best example came on a second-and-5 with 5:27 to play (after a five-yard run by Mostert).
The 49ers had All-Pro tight end George Kittle lined up against 37-year-old pass rusher Terrell Suggs in man coverage — obviously a matchup over which any offensive coach would drool. Sure enough, Kittle toasted Suggs to get open in the middle of the field, but Jones astutely batted down Garoppolo's pass. Pressure on the third down play created an errant Garoppolo pass, and the 49ers were forced to punt for just the second time in the game.
Man, if Jimmy can just flip it to Deebo here — wide open in the flat — it’s an even steeper climb for the Chiefspic.twitter.com/3tZLo8hJox
— Eric Edholm (@Eric_Edholm) February 3, 2020
"They made good plays," Kittle said. "They’re an NFL team, in the Super Bowl, AFC champions. They make plays, too."
About 3 1/2 minutes of game clock later, after the Chiefs had taken the lead with a seven-play scoring drive, Jones again batted down a key Garoppolo pass. This one, on a first down, came after the 49ers had driven into Chiefs territory, and operating a two-minute drill, Garoppolo had completed consecutive throws.
That incompletion led to a couple more. Chiefs corner Kendall Fuller made a great pass breakup on what likely would have been a first-down catch by Kendrick Bourne, and Garoppolo overthrew a streaking Emmanuel Sanders on third down. On fourth down, Frank Clark's sack of Jimmy Garoppolo all but ended the game.
SN's NFL Coach of the Year for the 2019 season, an award that was voted upon by his fellow head coaches, could only watch as his players made mistake after mistake.
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"I think that was kind of the signature of the game that they played better situational football," 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk said. "That’s what it boiled down to."
Added a dejected and short-winded 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman: "We just didn’t execute our game. … We just made mistakes."
Something along those lines — the Chiefs simply made more plays than the 49ers late in the fourth quarter — was echoed among all players and coaches who were asked how Kansas City came back to beat San Francisco. The cliche in this case, though, is the reality. To cite another sports cliche: The 49ers didn't lose Super Bowl 54. The Chiefs won it.
Nobody in either locker room blamed Shanahan, likely because they weren't subject to the groupthink that bedevils social media users. For his part, the 49ers coach will replay in his mind what went wrong against the Chiefs forever, as anybody in that situation would.
But as has been approach when asked about the painful Super Bowl defeat three years ago, he doesn't need to blame himself.