San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has made Super Bowl history twice, having blown double-digit leads in both of his appearances. Today he nearly blew a 16 point lead in the fourth quarter of today’s wild-card game against the Dallas Cowboys.
What was even more frustrating for 49ers fans was watching linebacker Fred Warner hurt his ankle. Fortunately he seemed alright and did get seen on the sidelines jumping up and down ready to get back in the game.
Still for Shanahan the playcalling was still looking great after the Cowboys punted with a little less than five minutes left in the third quarter. The 49er were up 23-7 seemingly in control when Jimmy Garoppolo missed a wide open Brandon Aiyuk who made a great move to get away from cornerback Trevon Diggs.
Unfortunately the throw was too high. A reoccurring theme for the 49ers quarterback.
Though it seemed the 49ers defense remained strong once again forcing a punt by Bryan Anger. It was a fake though and an easy first down as a 49ers special teams player left C.J. Goodwin wide open for the easy 16 yard completion.
For Dallas a delay of game penalty took its toll on the offense. This was due to not allowing for San Francsico to get its defense set and time ran out on the play clock. After an incomplete pass to Amari Cooper, short gains led to a Greg Zuerlein 51-yard field goal for the Cowboys with a little under 12 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Shanahan all he needed to do was continue to utilize Elijah Mitchell and Deebo Samuel by running the football and taking time off the clock. The Cowboys understood this of course and predicted what was going to happen and aggressively used rookie linebacker Micah Parsons to plug the hole. The result a pass play that left tight end George Kittle wide open for a gain of 18 yards.
After a holding call on Aiyuk that put San Francisco in a 1st and 15 situation, Samuel picked up five yards. So did Shanahan go back to running the football? No. He decided to have Garoppolo roll out and throw to Trent Sherfield, the throw again was high and it was easily intercepted by Anthony Brown who picked up 23 yards on the return.
Five plays later, Prescott ran it in for a touchdown on third and five. Like that the Cowboys were only down six.
Interestingly enough the 49ers were able to take over five minutes off the clock on their next possession. Thanks to several penalties on the Cowboys defense, yet there was one call that got missed on an incomplete pass to Kittle. Diggs made helmet-to-helmet contact. Those 15 yards and a first down, likely end the game.
Instead linebacker Leighton Vander Esch made what seeed like the equivalent of what Dre Greenlaw did against the Seattle Seahawks as he stopped Samuel short of a first down.
The 49ers elected to run the play clock down and take delay of game penalty and punted.
Prescott and the Cowboys got the football with a little over two minutes left. 49ers defensive tackle Kevin Givens deflected the first down play, yet tight end Dallas Schultz picked up the longest play of the day for either team with a 38 yard reception.
A sack of Prescott, mean quickly calling another play before the two-minute warning. That pass was incomplete to Ceedee Lamp and nearly got intercepted. Another incomplete pass with a holding penatly being declined by the 49ers resulted in a 4th and 11 play.
Jimmie Ward applied enough pressure to force a difficult throw to Cedrick Wilson who came close to making a tremendous catch. Instead the 49ers got the ball back due to the turnover on downs.
Surprising enough the game was far from over. Shanahan to his credit made an incredible play call that seemed to get the 49ers the game sealing first down on third and 10. Samuel after review came up inches short. Garoppolo did what he does best convert short yardage quarterback sneaks, unfortunately he went too soon as left tackle Trent Williams who got moved to the right side did not get set properly resulting in a five yard penalty. Mitch Wishnowsky then came in and punted resulting in a touchback.
This meant that Prescott got 32 seconds to get to the end zone. San Francico defensively did not do a great job of protecting the boundary and Dallas got an amazing opportunity at least make an attempt at a hail marry to the end zone. Yet tht did not happen.
Inexplicably Prescott decided to run with 14 seconds left and got tackled in-bounds. The Cowboys were not able to get another snap off to stop the clock and the game ended. For the Cowboys their season once again ended in disappointing fashon. The 49ers have advanced to play the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field next Monday night.
Now the hope for the 49ers is that Warner’s ankle is healthy enough for him to play and Bosa is able to clear concussion protocols.
Also, what is incredible about this wild card game being so close is that the 49ers defense held Ezekiel Elliott to 31 yards on 12 carries, Lamb caught only one pass for 21 yards, Wilson caught five passes for 62 yards, and Cooper got held to 64 yards receiving though he did lose K’Waun Williams for a touchdown reception in the second quarter.
In all honesty there was no reason that this game needed to come down to the final play and that is on Shanahan. It speaks volumes that the 49ers defense shut down an offense that became the first team in NFL history to have a 4,000 yard passer, a 1,000 yard rusher,a receiver with 1,000 yards, a defensive player with 10 or more sacks, and another defender with 10 or more interceptions. The 49ers offensive line did their jobs as Garoppolo did not get sacked once.