Quick hits from 49ers’ 31-20 loss to Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV
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It was all going according to plan, the crown jewel of a totally unexpected championship season.
Then the 49ers’ pass rush went quiet, their offense went stagnant, and the Kansas City Chiefs overcame a 10-point deficit for a 31-20 win in Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
In all, the Chiefs outscored the 49ers 21-0 over the last six minutes.
The 49ers’ last gasp came when quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo overshot an open Emmanuel Sanders on open third-and-10 post pattern with 1:33 to play, a would-be 51-yard scoring play.
Garoppolo was sacked for a 9-yard loss by Frank Clark on the next play, and all that was left was for Damien Williams to race 38 yards on a second-and-6 for the game-clinching touchdown.
Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, who struggled through much of the game, finished 26 of 41 for 286 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Williams rushed for 104 yards on 17 carries as the Chiefs did more damage on the ground than most expected.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid finally gets his first Super Bowl win, while the 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan accepts a second bitter pill on the grand stage to go along with being offensive coordinator of an Atlanta Falcons team that blew a 28-3 lead against the New England Patriots.
The Shanahan tally in in the fourth quarter and overtime as the play-caller in two Super Bowls: Seven possessions, four punts, two turnovers (interception and fumble), one turned over on downs. The Patriots and Chiefs outscored the 49ers and Falcons 46-0 in two fourth quarters and an overtime.
Some quick observations from the big one that got away as the 49ers lost their second straight Super Bowl:
— Reid is 24-5 with an extra week to prepare (including the postseason) but this had nothing to do with advance preparation or scheme. It had to do with the Chiefs being the better and tougher team when it mattered most.
— Garoppolo completed just two of his last eight passes for 28 yards in the fourth quarter, finishing 20 of 31 for 219 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. As the quarterback, he’ll have to wear this loss as much as Shanahan will.
— Where did the 49ers pass rush go? Mahomes was bewitched, bothered and bewildered, and then all of a sudden he had all day. There were no holding calls on either team, but the 49ers were getting to Mahomes with regularity until it mattered most.
— Talk about the worst time possible for a three-and-out. After Mahomes got the Chiefs within 20-17, the 49ers had a Raheem Mostert run stuffed followed by two Garoppolo incomplete passes. The Chiefs, with Mahomes suddenly getting time to throw, drove 65 yards in seven plays with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Williams with 2:44 to play.
— The 49ers couldn’t capitalize on a second takeaway of Mahomes and it ended up putting the Chiefs back in the game. Taking over at their own 20 after Tarvarius Moore’s interception, a Joe Staley false start on third-and-9 pushed the ball back five yards and resulted in the first 49ers punt by Mitch Wishnowsky.
Mahomes made the 49ers pay. He finally got enough time for a 44-yard deep strike to Tyreek Hill, and following a pass interference penalty on Moore in the end zone against Travis Kelce, Mahomes found Kelce from the 1 on the next play with 6:40 to play to make it 20-17.
The Mahomes to Hill play came on third-and-15, and put the Chiefs back in the game.
“Stayed deep, he made a great play, that’s it,:” said 49ers safety Jimmie Ward, who was the last line of defense on the Hill catch.
— Fred Warner’s interception of Mahomes set the stage for a 20-10 49ers lead with 2:35 left in the third quarter. The 49ers had already scored in the second half on Gould’s second field goal, this one from 42 yards.
On a third-and-12 play, Warner dropped into coverage only to have Mahomes throw the ball directly to him. An assist, if there was such a thing, could have gone to Nick Bosa. On the play before, Bosa beat Chiefs tackle Erik Fisher inside and punched the ball free from Mahomes. The Chiefs quarterback fell on the ball, and may have been affected by the play on his ensuing throw.
One more score and it was ballgame. It never came.
— A later interception to Moore showed just how out of sorts Mahomes was through three quarters. He had Hill open, threw it behind him, and Moore came up with the gift interception as the Chiefs had worked their way to the 49ers’ 23.
— The biggest sequence of the first half for the 49ers came after Garoppolo threw an ill-advised pass toward Samuel while being pressured by Chris Jones and Mike Pennel. The resulting interception by Bashaud Breeland happened with the 49ers trailing 7-3.
The defense minimized the damage. Moore put a third-down lick on Darwin Thompson short of the stake forced the Cheifs to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Harrison Butker. They trailed 10-3.
— The field goal was at least a temporary wakeup call to the offense, as Garoppolo directed a flawless seven-play, 80-yard drive ending when Garoppolo found Kyle Juszczyk for a 15-yard touchdown. It was the 49ers at their best offensively — and the only such drive of the game.
— The Chiefs first touchdown was set up on the kind of fourth-and-1 call few coaches other than Reid would make.
With the Chiefs at the 49ers’ 5-yard line, Reid first sent the field goal team on the field and then thought better of it. Before the snap, Sammy Watkins, Damien Williams, Mahomes and Darnell Robinson all pivoted in a circle to the original spots in a Motown worthy move. The ball was a direct snap to Williams, who gained four yards to the 1. Mahomes scored from the 1 two plays later for a 7-3 lead.
— The clock management police were out in force on social and mainstream media, citing Shanahan for poor handling of the time remaining late in the first half. Not wanting to give Mahomes another shot in a 10-10 game, Shanahan didn’t burn a time out before the last 49ers possession, which started with 59 seconds left.
A late 20-yard pass to Jeff Wilson set up a would-be 32-yard strike to Kittle to put the 49ers in field goal range. However, Kittle was called for offensive pass interference, pushing off ever-so-slightly against Daniel Sorenson to derail the threat.Fox officiating analyst Mike Pereira believed it to be the right call. It looked pretty marginal.
The 49ers didn’t lose because of Shanahan’s clock issues or the penalty on Kittle. Give up the last 21 points in a Super Bowl, and everyone’s culpable.
“The ref made a call, I’ve got to live with it,” Kittle said. “I’ll live with it.”
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2v1zkrG
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