Plenty of big-name players have a good case or have gotten a good jumpstart on a future HOF bid. Mitchell Schwartz should be one of them.
There are plenty of big-name players from the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory that now have a jump start on an eventual Hall of Fame bid. There are others that seem to have a clear road to Canton, but perhaps one of the most deserving isn’t being talked about enough. No. 71 has been the best offensive lineman on the Chiefs over the past four seasons. There’s little doubt that RT Mitchell Schwartz is one of the most underrated in all of the NFL.
Schwartz joined the Chiefs in 2016 after spending his first four years with the Cleveland Browns, who drafted him in the second round back in 2012. He has started every single game he has played for eight straight years for a total of 128 regular-season games. Up until November of 2019, he had not missed a single snap of his career. Even when he was forced to come out of a game for the first time ever this past season, he only missed three snaps.
The Chiefs have been known for their running game and offensive line play dating back to the 1990s when Marty Schottenheimer was the head coach. That tradition continued under Dick Vermeil and even though the team’s consistency fell off after Vermeil exited, the Chiefs still boasted some impressive linemen. Still, from 2011 to 2016, the Chiefs had a different starting right tackle each season. Schwartz’s arrival game the offensive line stability at the right tackle spot for the first time in years.
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Schwartz has been selected as an AP Second-Team All-Pro in 2016, 2017, and 2019. So far his only AP First-Team recognition came in 2018. In 2019, he earned a Super Bowl ring, while allowing just a single pressure in 140 postseason pass-blocking snaps according to PFF. Schwartz has gained more and more respect and recognition every single year he has been in the league.
Prior to the 2019 season, Schwartz signed a one-year extension that makes him a Chief through 2021. He turns 31 on June 8th and even though his best football might be behind him, he is still one of the premier right tackles in the game today. Until we see the play fall off, there is no reason to expect anything less than All-Pro play from Schwartz.
Schwartz played his college ball at Cal and since being drafted in 2012, he has made four straight All-Pro teams, started 128 regular-season games in a row, and now has a Super Bowl ring. We all know how talented the Chiefs are and with a number of additional accolades coming his way, Schwartz should and very well could be getting a bust in Canton, Ohio.
Now with a Super Bowl under his belt, Andy Reid is all but a shoo-in for the NFL Hall of Fame somewhere down the road.
We have all shared the conversation regarding who could be the next member of the Kansas City Chiefs to go into the hallowed halls of the NFL Hall of Fame. Most recently, two former greats who suited up in a Chiefs uniform got inducted in 2019. Johnny Robinson and Tony Gonzalez were both inducted as members of the 2019 class. Prior to this year, it is well documented that the Chiefs had won only one Super Bowl and it was 50 years ago. A Lombardi Trophy is an obvious boost to one’s Hall of Fame resume, so with a fifty-year hiatus from the biggest game in football, it was never a guarantee that a player would make the cut.
All that changed and now that the second Super Bowl victory in the organization’s history is in the books, we can comb through the roster and look at who’s Hall of Fame likelihood improved. Let’s start with the most obvious and most deserving, the man at the top, head coach Andy Reid.
Up until February 2nd, 2020, Andy Reid was considered to be the best coach without a Super Bowl. Now that he finally climbed the metaphorical mountain and removed the proverbial monkey off of his back, it is a safe bet to pencil his name in as a future NFL Hall of Famer. Currently sitting at number seven on the all-time win’s list with 207, the only men with more wins are Hall of Famers. The exception is New England Patriots HC Bill Belichick, but come on, he might as well have a bust already prepared.
The coaches who presently outrank Coach Reid on the wins list all have at least four years on Big Red when it comes to head coaching experience. Paul Brown, founder of the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals, is one spot ahead of Coach Reid but could be surpassed in 2020 with only a seven-game advantage. Brown, along with Curly Lambeau and George Halas are the only Hall of Fame coaches with more wins but fewer Super Bowls than Reid. Granted, those men have multiple NFL Championships so that statistic is a bit of a technicality.
With the first Super Bowl win out of the way and a young quarterback named Patrick Mahomes, the best quarterback he has ever coached, there’s no guarantee on when Coach Reid will want to call it a career. The Chiefs have essentially brought everyone back for an all-in repeat attempt in 2020, but at age 62, Coach Reid is among the oldest active head coaches in the league. However, he could be on the verge of the greatest stretch in his illustrious career. Regardless of when he does decide to walk away, he can do so knowing where he will ultimately end up. Once the lure of the sideline no longer calls out to him, the next stop is undoubtedly Canton, Ohio.
It was Robert Saleh, not Kyle Shanahan, who was too conservative.
The 49ers were 7:13 away from being crowned world champions. Holding the Chiefs’ powerful offense to a measly 10 points through the first 53 minutes of Super Bowl 54, San Francisco was a stop on 3rd-and-forever away from putting the game out of reach for good. The NFL’s best pass defense, with a pass rush that had harassed Patrick Mahomes all night and a secondary that had picked him off twice, surely wasn’t going to be beaten in that situation.
Well, you know what happened next… Tyreek Hill found himself wide open for a 44-yard reception that sparked a 21-0 run for the Chiefs — and gave Kansas City its first Super Bowl title in five decades.
It wasn’t surprising that Mahomes, the NFL’s most talented quarterback, was able to connect with Hill, the league’s most explosive receiver, for a big play. It was, however, shocking that the 49ers secondary had allowed the Chiefs’ biggest weapon to get this open that far downfield.
How does that happen? Quite simply, Andy Reid called the perfect play for the coverage 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh had called.
Perfect play-calls don’t happen by accident. They’re the result of intense film study, pattern recognition and, in this particular case, a naive defensive play-caller who thought he could get away with showing one of the NFL’s sharpest offensive minds the same coverages over and over again. That one play didn’t cost the 49ers a championship. But it was just one of many failures by Saleh to change the picture for Reid and Mahomes, which helped them lead the furious comeback.
San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan was always going to receive the bulk of the blame for the blown lead. His conservative decisions at the end of the first half and the beginning of the third quarter drew the ire of the nerds. The 49ers’ run-pass ratio in the fourth quarter had football guys steamed. Both groups missed the real culprit. Shanahan (and his quarterback) certainly deserves some blame, but most of it should be placed on his defensive coordinator.
How much blame does Shanahan deserve?
(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Before we get into Saleh’s missteps, let’s take a look at Shanahan’s.
It’s clear the 40-year-old coach handled the end of the first half poorly with his decision to (1) not use a timeout after the Chiefs were held on third down with 1:59 to go in the second quarter and; (2) start the ensuing drive out with two runs, essentially killing any chance the 49ers had of adding points before the half. But how much did those two decisions really cost his team? We can use the “Expected points” model to get an idea.
Let’s start with the timeout. Let’s just assume the result of the punt (a touchback) would have remained the same. After the third-down stop, the 49ers could have called timeout at the 1:47 mark. The punt took nine seconds off the clock, so we’ll give them the ball at the Chiefs’ 20-yard-line with 1:38 remaining and two timeouts to work with. According to the Expected points model, the 49ers would be expected to score about 0.8 points in that scenario. With 0:59 seconds on the clock and three timeouts, that number drops down to about 0.6, so the failure to call timeout cost San Francisco about 0.2 expected points. The 49ers eventually throwing downfield and going for points complicates matters, but Shanahan ultimately was content to go into the half with a 10-10 score, which cost him 0.8 expected points and a percentage point of win probability. It wasn’t the optimal decision, but it wasn’t a game-changing one either.
That wasn’t Shanahan’s only conservative decision, though. After the halftime break, the 49ers drove down to the Chiefs’ 24-yard-line, where they faced a fourth-and-2. Most analytics devotees were advocating for San Francisco’s offense to stay out on the field, but Shanahan opted for the three points, much to the chagrin of Analytics Twitter. It actually turns out that kicking the field goal was the best decision in that case, at least according to ESPN’s model…
Also in postmortem, FWIW, our model supported SF's FG on 4th and 2 from the 24. I was personally surprised. Can't know exactly the 'reason', but suspect it liked a 2nd-half lead, and the 24 is not as juicy a 4th dn region as longer/marginal FG ranges or nearer the goal line.
That makes sense. On fourth-and-2 in that area of the field, NFL teams have a conversion rate of 57.7% since 2010. Teams average about five yards per play on those attempts. For the sake of argument, let’s just give the 49ers those five yards and put them on the Kansas City 19-yard-line. The Expected points in that situation is about 4.5. So, at most, Shanahan’s decision cost San Francisco 1.5 expected points, but that’s also assuming a 100% chance of conversion on fourth down.
Even when taking the most cynical view — at least a cynical view backed up by numbers — Shanahan only really cost his team about three points with those two heavily scrutinized decisions. That’s obviously not ideal, and game management has absolutely been an issue three years into his head coaching, but when factoring how good of a game he called, Shanahan did more good than harm. Thanks to his designs, Garoppolo finished the night with an expected completion percentage — which is based on a variety of factors including receiver separation and depth of target — of 69.8%, per Next Gen Stats. For context, Drew Brees led the NFL during the regular season at 68.0%. The running game averaged 0.23 Expected Points Added per attempt, which nearly doubles the Ravens’ league-leading mark of 0.12. That’s next level play-calling.
Of course, there are those people who believe that the loss falls on Shanahan not because of his suboptimal decision-making but because his decision to abandon the run after the 49ers took a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. San Francisco ran 17 snaps in that final frame. Only four of them were runs.
That sounds bad, but when you add situational context, that ratio makes a lot more sense. Let’s start by pointing out that seven of the 49ers’ 13 dropbacks came after the two-minute warning with the team trailing. You cannot blame Shanahan for any of those calls as his team was in a must-pass situation.
That leaves six pass calls to four runs.
Before the two-minute warning, the 49ers ran on every one of their first-down plays in the fourth quarter. So, no problems there. The reverse was true on second down. Garoppolo dropped back on all three second-down snaps in the fourth quarter before the two-minute warning. The first of those dropbacks resulted in a 12-yard catch for George Kittle. The second play was actually changed at the line by Garoppolo, so you can’t pin that decision on Shanahan. So that just leaves the second-and-5 play call, which got Kittle. Unfortunately, the pass was batted down by Chris Jones.
The 49ers (wisely) called pass plays on their two third-down plays. The first was a third-and-14 where the protection broke down and Garoppolo was forced to scramble. On the next third-down play, Shanahan dialed up his “Arches” concept and got the look he wanted. But Garoppolo didn’t take the wide-open throw to Kittle and a miscommunication with his receiver led to a punt on fourth down.
So, really, you can only question one of Shanahan’s run-pass decisions, and even that play should have worked. The 49ers’ play-calling was good throughout the game. At least the offensive play-calling was good…
The 49ers’ defensive game plan
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
I’m an idiot. I just wanted to point that out before I get into the 49ers’ plan for stopping the Chiefs. Because you need to realize this: if an idiot like me recognized some of this stuff, I know a play-calling savant like Andy Reid certainly did.
So what was the 49ers’ plan? It won’t take long to explain, actually. On first down and second-and-short (under 7 yards to go), the 49ers essentially played two coverages: Quarters and Cover 3. And it wasn’t difficult to figure out when they’d play which coverage. When Mahomes was in shotgun, they played Quarters; when he went under center, they played Cover 3.
Every time.
We’re talking a 100% tendency for the entire game.
Here are all of Kansas City’s under-center snaps in the game…
It’s all Cover 3.
Now, the Quarters calls did change based on the pre-snap distribution of the receivers. Against formations with three receivers to one side and an isolated pass catcher to the other, the 49ers played a variation of Quarters some coaches refer to as “Solo.” In that coverage, the corner to the single-receiver side plays man coverage on that receiver and the linebacker to that side takes the running back. This allows the defense to flood its zone coverage to the three-receiver side to avoid being outnumbered.
Here’s an example of the 49ers playing “Solo” against the Chiefs…
The key man in “Solo” coverage is the backside safety, who is responsible for the No. 3 receiver (the receiver lined up furthest inside) if he goes vertical. The Chiefs had dominated defenses all season with deep crossing routes from three-by-one alignments, so Saleh playing this as a base coverage against three-by-one sets made a lot of sense.
But playing it every time the Chiefs got into one particular formation did not.
Especially down the stretch when Reid would have picked up on the tendency. Again, I’m an idiot and it didn’t take long for me to pick up on it, but Saleh decided it was a good idea to show Reid and Mahomes the same picture down after down. The Chiefs ran nine first-down plays from a three-by-one gun formation during the game. San Francisco played “Solo” on every single one of them.
When the Chiefs lined up in a two-by-two shotgun formation, the 49ers played Quarters 93% of the time. On third-and-3+, they played Cover 1 man (sometimes with a safety lurking over the middle, sometimes with an extra pass rusher) 80% of the time. On third-and-extra-long (more than 10 yards to go) Saleh would call Cover 3 Buzz, which is sorta, kinda similar to “Solo” coverage in that you have the backside safety looking to take the No. 3 receiver if he goes vertical…
Here’s an example from the game.
The Chiefs faced third-and-extra-long three times outside of the red zone. The 49ers called Cover 3 Buzz every single time. Converting on third-and-long is difficult, but it gets a lot easier when the offense knows what coverage it’s getting, as San Francisco would find out later in the game.
With all of these easily diagnosed tendencies, Saleh might as well have been calling plays into Patrick Mahomes’ headset.
Andy Reid adjusted … Robert Saleh did not
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
The obvious rebuttal is “It was working!”
The mighty Chiefs offense had scored only 10 points through 53 minutes, so why would Saleh change things up? But was it actually working? Consider this: in the first half, the Chiefs averaged 2.5 points per drive. They averaged a league-leading 2.7 points per drive during the regular season, so not much of a difference there. On their drives before the 21-point run, the Chiefs averaged 45.7 yards per possession. During the regular season, the Ravens led the league at 41.8 yards per drive.
Kansas City’s offense was moving the ball just fine, but two uncharacteristic interceptions thwarted promising drives in the third quarter. Mahomes wasn’t going to keep throwing it to the defense. Saleh had to at least throw some changeups at Reid and his young quarterback. He didn’t, and Reid took advantage.
Knowing he’d get Cover 3 if the Chiefs lined up under center (100% tendency), Reid dialed up “Y-Leak” and created an explosive play downfield.
Knowing the Chiefs were playing man on third-and-long (80% tendency), he called this pick play to get an easy first down completion.
Knowing he’d get man coverage on third-and-long within 25 yards of the end zone (100% tendency), he called slot fades for both Travis Kelce and Hill and let Mahomes pick a target based on the movement of the free safety.
Knowing he’d get either Solo or a Cover 3 Blitz on second-and-long (100% tendency) — and that either way Sherman would be locked onto Sammy Watkins with no safety help — Reid called for a fade route.
And that brings us back to the play that changed the game: Hill’s 44-yard catch on third-and-15. Thanks to NFL Films, we know the play Reid called, at the behest of Mahomes: “3 Jet Wasp Y-Funnel.”
And thanks to Saleh’s schematic rigidness, Reid knew the 49ers’ play-call: Cover 3 Buzz. So Reid used Kelce’s over route to occupy the strong safety, while Watkins’ dig route would draw the attention of CB Emmanuel Moseley. That left Jimmie Ward, playing the deep middle, to cover Hill all by himself. With Hill looking as if he were running a post route, Ward opens up his hips to run with it, only for Hill to break back toward the sideline, leaving him wide open.
There was no read there. Mahomes didn’t have to go through his progressions. He simply had to buy enough time for Hill to get open, because, based on everything he had seen that game, Mahomes knew Hill would get open. He said as much after the game:
I asked Patrick Mahomes about "2-3 Jet Chip Wasp” shortly after he left the field following Super Bowl LIV. pic.twitter.com/itaxQ3fbxR
“They were playing this kind of robber coverage all game long where the safety was coming down and kind of robbing all our deep cross routes, and we had a good play call on it where we had (Travis) Kelce do a little stutter deep cross. We had Tyreek getting one-on-one with that safety, but the biggest thing was we needed really good protection.”
There’s no shame in losing to Patrick Mahomes and Andry Reid. Robert Saleh fell victim to a duo that has left many defenses in its wake. But the 49ers defense deserved more from its coach. Saleh had the league’s deepest and most talented defense at his disposal. He had two weeks to put together a game plan. And this is what he came up with? Mahomes and Reid do not need any extra help to make an opposing defense look silly, but Saleh gave it to them anyway.
Saleh’s simple approach to play-calling had served the 49ers well all season. With a stacked group of pass rushers, an athletic linebacker corps and a smart secondary, he had more than enough talent to just line up and beat opposing offenses even if they knew what was coming. Against Andy Reid and this offense, which was just as talented, that was a mistake. A far bigger mistake than any Shanahan made that night in Miami.
The Arizona Cardinals will be looking to bolster their porous 2019 defense with big additions this offseason. They should look no farther than Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs, who is a dominant force on the defensive line.
It’s no secret the Arizona Cardinals will be looking to allocate their offseason resources to fixing their porous 2019 defense, but how exactly should they go about doing it?
As if the answer wasn’t already clear enough, the Kansas City Chiefs’ dominant defensive Super Bowl performance against the 49ers gave Steve Keim and company a very easy blueprint for fixing their defense.
Sign defensive tackle Chris Jones to a lucrative contract.
The Cardinals are in desperate need of a revitalized pass rush. They have arguably the league’s best in Chandler Jones, but even he can’t do it all on his own.
Last Sunday, Jones had property in the 49ers’ backfield. He helped limit their potent rushing attack and made Garoppolo uncomfortable all night.
This was one of the biggest plays of the game for the Chiefs, and cornerback Bashaud Breeland will get most of the credit on this play. But pay attention to No. 95. Chris Jones puts immediate pressure on Jimmy G, forcing the poor decision and the subsequent turnover. Jones also had a couple key deflections late in the game that allowed Patrick Mahomes to lead their team back from a ten-point deficit.
There is a long time until March 18th, when the new league year begins and free agents can officially sign with new teams. Jones has been very outspoken about wanting to be a Chief for the entirety of his career, but it remains to be seen if Kansas City will be financially able to make that a reality.
Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes is due for a monster payday, and the team just dished out heavy contracts to DE Frank Clark and WR Tyreek Hill. Recent rumors have suggested the Chiefs and WR Sammy Watkins may be parting ways, so that would generate some cap relief. The Chiefs may also be in the market for extending star tight end Travis Kelce, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports. Between Mahomes and Kelce, the impending contract extensions facing the Chiefs could leave Chris Jones as the odd man out.
So, what sort of contract would Chris Jones command? The two current contracts to keep an eye on are Philadelphia’s Fletcher Fox and Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams. Jones has played his way into the same conversation as these two perennial All-Pros, so the contract he receives will likely be similar to theirs.
Cox signed a six-year, 102 million dollar deal that pays him an average annual salary of 17 million. Donald, on the other hand, signed for the same duration but is making 135 million and 22 million per year.
With Jones playing as well as he did in Kansas City’s postseason run, coupled with his nine sack 2019 regular season and his whopping 15.5 sack 2018 campaign, one would expect him to receive a similar contract.
How does this fit in with the Cardinals? They certainly have a few notable holes to fill this offseason, highlighted by right tackle, wide receiver, inside linebacker, and defensive line. Many would argue that the Cards would be wise to use their cap space to fill more holes as opposed to spending for a premium piece like Jones.
That is the mindset that has kept this organization in mediocrity for five years.
The Cardinals need star power. They are on the right track with Kyler Murray at the helm, and have a solid defensive nucleus to build upon with Chandler Jones, Budda Baker, and Patrick Peterson, but they need more.
Chris Jones is one of the best players at his position- a position the Cardinals desperately need. Pairing Chandler and Chris Jones would spell doom for opposing quarterbacks every Sunday, which would in turn take heaps of pressure off the rebuilding Cardinals secondary. (Plus, you’d have two All-Pros in the front seven named Jones. Maybe it’s a sign).
If the Kansas City Chiefs are unable to extend their superstar defensive lineman, it is critical that the Cardinals pay whatever it takes to send Jones to the desert.
Follow @alexsuttonnfl on Twitter to stay up-to-date with the latest Cardinals news and rumors.
“This guy’s not going down the field and beating us.”
Patrick Mahomes earned the Super Bowl MVP award after leading the Chiefs back from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter against the 49ers, but San Francisco quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo still had multiple opportunities down the stretch to potentially seal a victory.
Through a combination of the Chiefs’ solid defensive play and Garoppolo’s execution errors, the 49ers were held scoreless over the final 17 minutes of the game – but more importantly, San Francisco’s offense possessed the ball for just 5 minutes and 31 seconds in the fourth quarter, giving Mahomes’ offense plenty of time to score 21 fourth-quarter points.
Clark joined ESPN’s First Take on Friday, and was asked what he was thinking when the Chiefs needed to force a 3-and-out against Garoppolo, down 20-17 with less than six minutes remaining in the game.
“In my head, honestly, I was saying ‘this guy’s not going down the field and beating us. We need 3-and-outs. We need 3-and-outs, consecutive ones if we’re going to win this game,’ and that’s what we was able to go out there and do.”
Clark was also critical of Garoppolo immediately after the game, saying in an interview that the QB couldn’t beat the Chiefs by throwing checkdowns all game.
Clark did say on Friday that he felt Garoppolo was still one of the best QBs in the league.
“I mean, I feel like he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the league. You say top…. top-5? I wouldn’t put him top-5. I’d put him up there as one of the top-10 guys though for sure.”
The play that helped win the Super Bowl is coming to Madden NFL 20.
The Kansas City Chiefs rewrote franchise history with their Super Bowl LIV win over the San Francisco 49ers.
Previously, had you asked anyone the most iconic play in franchise history, the answer would be 65 Toss Power Trap from Hank Stram and Super Bowl IV. Now, with another championship under their belt, the Chiefs have a new iconic play to go with it. That play is called 2-3 Jet Chip Wasp and it’s the play that got the comeback started for Kansas City in the Super Bowl.
It’s the fourth quarter, third-and-15 and the Chiefs remained down 10 points. With the game on the line, Patrick Mahomes asks offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy if the protection can hold up for “Wasp.”
The protection held up and Wasp was extremely successful giving the Chiefs their longest play of the day, a 44-yard reception from WR Tyreek Hill. This play has become a favorite so quickly that Hill even asked the developers for “Madden NFL 20” to put the play into the Chiefs’ playbook.
Soon, fans throughout the NFL will have a chance to use the play that helped spark the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl victory in 50 years. Jet Chip Wasp will be coming to Madden in a future title update. Perhaps they’ll even include some of the other iconic plays from Super Bowl LIV too.
Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl champs thanks to a couple of huge plays down the stretch in the fourth quarter last Sunday night in Miami.
And none were bigger than that long pass from Mahomes to Tyreek Hill on 3rd and 15 that helped lead to a TD that shifted the momentum in the game.
Now we know more about that play-call and how Mahomes asked for it while the refs were reviewing a previous play.
This “wasp” pass play went for 44 yards and was the same play they used for a big gain against the Patriots in the AFC title game last year.
Check out this video below to see just how locked in Mahomes was on making sure they could pull this play off. It’s so darn fascinating watching the QB calmly ask offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy if they can have the time/protection to run the play and then how he’s able to pull it off under such pressure.
Also, it shows what an incredible leader Mahomes is, as he makes sure Hill is ready to make a big play:
Kyle Shanahan saved his timeouts at the end of the first half so Patrick Mahomes wouldn’t get the ball back.
One of the hot-button issues after the 49ers’ Super Bowl loss was whether head coach Kyle Shanahan should’ve called a timeout near the end of the first half. He told reporters Thursday that he believed in the moment he was playing it right, and still believes it days after the game.
San Francisco got a stop against Kansas City with just under 1:50 left in the second quarter. Rather than calling the first of his three timeouts, Shanahan elected to let the clock run, and Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt nearly dropped it at the 1-yard-line. It bounced into the end zone though and gave San Francisco the ball at their own 20 with 59 seconds left.
Shanahan said he still believes he played it right. Via a transcript from the team:
No, absolutely not. I think that was one of the reasons we were up 10 points going into the fourth quarter. Absolutely wouldn’t have called a timeout at that time because we were expecting to be backed up and inside the 10, just like we probably should have been at the one, if they didn’t mess that play up. No, I was as confident as what we did in that situation as anything we’ve done all year. I mean that strongly. That’s something you work at for two weeks studying that team, what they’re capable of doing. You’re not going to give the ball back to them no matter what in that situation. The way he did that third-and-15 at the end of the game is how he does the two-minute drive. Felt extremely good with how we went. Not using the timeout there was a no-brainer. If we would have gotten an explosive run on the first one, then it would have been a whole different deal. But, we got a two-and-a-half-yard run. The whole goal was to not let them call a timeout there. You hurry to the line to act like you’re going, but then you don’t so you can ensure that [Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick] Mahomes won’t have an opportunity. And then we run a ball and then we make them use one of their timeouts. Now it’s third down, at least we’ve made them use one of their timeouts, we’ve taken enough time off that if we don’t get this, it’s going to be harder. But, there is still a lot of pressure. You’ve got to move the chains there. They brought a corner blitz. [RB] Jeff [Wilson Jr.] did an awesome job. We got a big play. Ended up having an opportunity to score if we don’t get the offensive PI.
They nearly got into scoring range, but an offensive pass interference flag on tight end George Kittle negated a 42-yard completion that would’ve put San Francisco deep into Chiefs territory. Instead they had to kneel and run the final seconds off to enter the half tied at 10.
In hindsight, with a blown fourth-quarter lead under their belts, trying harder to score at the end of the first half seems paramount, and makes the non-timeout look like a blunder.
However, the 49ers still held a 10-point lead with 6:23 left in the game in part because of their choice to not let Kansas City have the ball back at the end of the half. They also nearly had points to close the first half had Kittle not been flagged for offensive pass interference. Had they scored with no time left in the half, Shanahan would’ve been lauded for his outstanding clock management.
One of the wrinkles in the post-game analysis of that sequence was a shot of 49ers general manager John Lynch in his suite signaling for a timeout after the third-down stop by the 49ers defense.
Lynch told reporters it was a spur-of-the-moment reaction that he quickly regretted.
“Yeah, I think it’s just as if I was a player looking at the sidelines saying timeout, timeout,” he said. “I was thrilled for our guys. I get excited watching these games. Not much I can do up there, but I’ve got these guys’ backs. It’s not my role to do time management. I don’t focus a lot on it. I was proud of our guys getting a big stop. That was my initial reaction. (President of 49ers Enterprises and EVP of Football Operations) Paraag [Marathe] does study a lot of time management. I’m also asking him, ‘Should we get the timeout?’ That’s all it was. It was quickly erased when they almost pinned us at the half yard line. Kyle knows that. I watch the game with emotion because I care. That’s all that was.”
Since the goal was to not give the Chiefs the ball back, Shanahan made the right move, and it makes sense that he wouldn’t go back and change it.
In a classy move, Raheem Mostert is giving Damien Williams’ jersey back so Williams can share it with his family.
After scoring two touchdowns to help lead the Chiefs to a thrilling come-from-behind Super Bowl win, Kansas City running back Damien Williams had one of his opponents on his mind in the immediate aftermath of the game. As the 49ers players walked through the tunnel and back to the locker room, Williams ran after San Francisco’s Raheem Mostert, who, like Williams, made it to the biggest game in football after going undrafted.
Mostert and Williams exchanged jerseys in the tunnel, in a video captured by our own Andy Nesbitt.
Chiefs RB Damien Williams immediately chased down 49ers RB Raheem Mostert after Super Bowl 54, shared some emotional words and swapped jerseys. Then he went out and finally celebrated with his team. So much class. pic.twitter.com/GsiNqYm10I
Williams’ game-worn jersey will be returned to him, though. In a post on Twitter, Mostert joked that he considered cashing in on eBay, but wanted Williams to be able to share his jersey with his family.
Contemplated putting this on eBay 😂 but this belongs to YOU and yours! You did your thing. Hand this down for generations! PROUD OF YOU BRO! Much love. #undraftedRBs@TooLoose26pic.twitter.com/RL4oIgtQhr
Every Super Bowl loss is hard to swallow. San Francisco’s blown 10-point, fourth-quarter lead was especially difficult though. It was so bad, in fact, 49ers wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders likened his five or six rewatches of the game to a disaster …
Every Super Bowl loss is hard to swallow. San Francisco’s blown 10-point, fourth-quarter lead was especially difficult though. It was so bad, in fact, 49ers wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders likened his five or six rewatches of the game to a disaster movie.
“It’s like watching the Titanic and you hope the ship just doesn’t sink,” Sanders told reporters Wednesday during the team’s locker clean out. “And for some reason, the ship keeps sinking over and over.”
“I go back and watch it again, and you hope that all the plays that we left out there and the possible opportunities that we could’ve come out victorious. But we didn’t and that’s the reality.”
Sanders was nearly on the receiving end of one of those opportunities to win. On a third-and-10 with 1:40 left in the fourth quarter and the 49ers trailing by four, Garoppolo aired out a deep shot for Sanders, who’d beat a pair of defenders for a would-be touchdown. The quarterback overshot his receiver by several yard, and was sacked on the ensuing fourth down, effectively ending the game.
That was just one of several plays though. As difficult as it was to watch in the moment, going back to it makes them seem even closer to victory. If for players it’s anything like watching Jack sink into the sea again and again, that has to be impossibly agonizing.
