Travis Kelce slams Kyle Shanahan's OT coin toss decision in Super Bowl: 'It was a huge [mistake]'

Jacob Camenker

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Travis Kelce slams Kyle Shanahan's OT coin toss decision in Super Bowl: 'It was a huge [mistake]' image

Virtually everyone has weighed in on Kyle Shanahan's decision to take the ball first in overtime of Super Bowl 58 after winning the coin toss. Now, you can add Travis Kelce to the list.

Kansas City's star tight end believes Shanahan's decision was a mistake that ultimately cost San Francisco a chance to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.

Kelce expressed this opinion on his "New Heights" podcast, which he co-hosts with his older brother, Jason.

MORE: Kyle Shanahan gives odd post-game explanation for receiving the ball to start OT

“You win the coin toss, that’s what you get," Travis said, referring to the option of getting the ball second. "You get the opportunity to have the advantage. And they gave it right over to us."

"Not trying to harp on the guy, but it was a huge [mistake]," he continued. "When they said they wanted to receive and the ref looked at Fred [Warner] and he said, 'Are you sure?' And he was like, 'Yeah, I want the ball.'"

Kelce has a point that Shanahan's call proved costly, and the veteran coach's explanation of taking the ball first was a bit odd. He wanted to have the ball third in the overtime period.

"It's just something we talked about with, you know none of us had a ton of experience with it, but we went through all the analytics and talked to those guys and we decided it would be better — we wanted the ball third," Shanahan said. "If both teams matched and scored, we wanted to be the ones to have a chance to go win. We got that field goal so we 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."

MORE: The pros and cons of the 49ers' Super Bowl 58 coin-toss call that backfired

Mathematically, Shanahan's argument is sensible. ESPN's Brian Burke estimates that the team that receives the ball in overtime has between a 50.19 percent and 50.29 percent chance of winning the game. The extra 0.1 percent is determined by whether the team to get the ball second would go for two after a game-tying touchdown.

Of course, others will argue that the percentage is close enough to a coin flip that the decision to kick or receive should depend on the makeup of the team. Those same people might argue that giving Patrick Mahomes a chance to mount a game-winning drive when he will have all four downs at his disposal in a do-or-die situation could swing that percentage below 50 percent.

Kelce is among those people. That's why he said that he "jumped out of [his] seat" after learning of San Francisco's decision. It's also why he celebrated the 49ers' decision on the sidelines, as was captured by "Inside the NFL."

"We want them to have the ball," Kelce said. "They want it, they can have it."

Kelce also delivered a clear message to his teammates after Kansas City found out its defense would start overtime on the field.

"Defense, just hold 'em to three," he detailed on the "New Heights" podcast. "Just hold 'em to three. We're gonna go down there and win this thing, baby."

MORE: 49ers players didn't know NFL playoff overtime rules before Super Bowl

That's ultimately what happened. Chris Jones came up with a huge pressure on 3rd-and-4 in the red zone, so the 49ers had to kick the field goal. Then, Mahomes led a 13-play, 75-yard drive that culminated in a three-yard touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman to give Kansas City the win.

Shanahan has since defended his decision and handling of overtime in the biggest game of his coaching career.

Still, it appears that many will doubt the 49ers coach's strategy in taking the ball first. Count Travis Kelce among them.

Jacob Camenker

Jacob Camenker Photo

Jacob Camenker first joined The Sporting News as a fantasy football intern in 2018 after his graduation from UMass. He became a full-time employee with TSN in 2021 and now serves as a senior content producer with a particular focus on the NFL. Jacob worked at NBC Sports Boston as a content producer from 2019 to 2021. He is an avid fan of the NFL Draft and ranked 10th in FantasyPros’ Mock Draft Accuracy metric in both 2021 and 2022.