Oh my God, Kyle Shanahan cost his team the Super Bowl again

Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers had the Chiefs right where they wanted them in Super Bowl 54, but just like with the Falcons three years ago, couldn’t close the deal

At some point in his still-young coaching career, Kyle Shanahan won’t be able to help looking down at his bare fingers knowing he let two Super Bowl rings slip off them with a series of bizarre play calls.

Shanahan found himself in a familiar position in Super Bowl 54 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Sunday … a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter after holding down an MVP quarterback for most of the game.

His San Francisco 49ers led the Kansas City Chiefs by 10 points with less than 12 minutes remaining after Patrick Mahomes was intercepted for the second time, this time by Tarvarius Moore. After gaining a first down on a pass play to tight end George Kittle, the 49ers handed the ball off to Raheem Mostert for a one-yard gain from their own 38-yard line. As precious seconds ticked off and the Chiefs hopes for a comeback were evaporating, Shahanan then did the same thing that cost him the Super Bowl three seasons ago, abandon the run game. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo dropped back to pass on back-to-back plays, throwing an incomplete pass on second down then, after a false start, scrambling for three yards on third down but getting pushed out of bounds to stop the clock.

That gave the ball back to Mahomes and the Chiefs, who went on a 10-play drive that ended with Mahomes throwing a touchdown pass to tight end Travis Kelce in the back of the end zone to cut the deficit to 20-17. On their next possession, the 49ers managed to run just 1:03 off the clock after Mostert gained five yards on first down before Shanahan again called for two pass plays that were both incomplete.

The Chiefs drove down the field once again and took the lead with Damien Williams’ touchdown reception with 2:44 remaining, putting the Chiefs ahead 24-20. Mostert gained 17 yards on the first play of the next drive, and the 49ers had the ball at midfield with 1:49 left and all three timeouts, a touchdown the only thing separating them from lifting the Lombardi Trophy for the first time in 25 years. But Mostert wouldn’t touch the ball again as Garoppolo threw three straight incomplete passes before getting sacked on fourth down by Frank Clark.

After Williams ran in for another touchdown that broke the hearts of fans in the Bay Area, the 49ers lost 31-20, walking off the field wondering how they let a game they controlled for the better part of it get away. They gained 6.4 yards per rushing attempts on the Chiefs defense, constantly getting around the edge with Mostert or with wide receiver sweeps to Deebo Samuel. In a game where they held a double-digit fourth-quarter lead, Garoppolo threw 31 passes compared to 22 rushing attempts by 49ers running backs.

It’s not the kind of strategy that the 49ers used all season to get this far. Shanahan uses the same zone-running scheme that his father used so successfully in winning two Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos in the 1990s. The 49ers ranked second in the NFL this season in rushing attempts, behind only the Baltimore Ravens, and were one of only three teams to run the ball more often then they passed. In the NFC Championship game two weeks ago, Mostert put the Green Bay Packers away with a championship game record 220 yards on the ground. Against the Minnesota Vikings in the divisional round, the 49ers ran just one pass play in the fourth quarter after coming in protecting a 14-point lead. Garoppolo threw just 27 passes combined over their two playoff victories.

Shanahan got away from what his team does best when it mattered the most, but it’s not the first time. In Super Bowl 51, Shanahan was the offensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons team that gave up a 28-3 third-quarter lead to the New England Patriots.

Up by eight points with four minutes remaining and the ball inside the Patriots 25 after a spectacular catch along the sideline by Julio Jones, Shanahan ran the ball on first down before calling for three straight pass plays that resulted in a sack, a holding penalty, and an incompletion, three plays that took only 18 seconds off the clock. Instead of running out the clock and kicking a field goal to essentially end the game, the Falcons gave Tom Brady and the Patriots time to come back and tie the game before winning in overtime in the most stunning comeback in Super Bowl history.

Shanahan didn’t have time to dwell on that loss; he was hired to lead the 49ers just a day later. But perhaps he should’ve taken the time to assess what went wrong three years ago, because Super Bowl 54 showed he learned nothing from it and made the same playcalling mistakes that cost his team a second Super Bowl ring.