From a play perspective, the NFC Championship game came down to two interceptions — the one that 49ers safety Jaquiski Tartt dropped with 9:55 left in the fourth quarter, and the one that 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo threw with 1:19 left in the game. The Rams managed a 20-17 win to advance to their second Super Bowl in four years, but this was nearly the 49ers’ time to make their second Super Bowl in three seasons.
The 49ers had a 17-7 lead as the fourth quarter began, and as the fourth quarter progressed, all kinds of things went wrong for head coach Kyle Shanahan’s team that were entirely avoidable.
We remember Shanahan leaning on a needlessly pass-heavy late game plan in Super Bowl LI as the Falcons’ offensive coordinator in the infamous 28-3 game against the Patriots, and there were moments Shanahan would like back from San Francisco’s 31-20 loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV. That said, the decisions Shanahan made in the fourth quarter kept his team out of Super Bowl LVI, and as great an offensive mind as he may be, there are legitimate questions to ask about his skills as a strategist.
The Tartt drop and the Garoppolo pick aside, here’s how Shanahan kept his own team out of the biggest game of the season.