There are not a lot of words to describe what happened to the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII. Still once again Kyle Shanahan can not get it done on the NFL’s biggest stage.
San Francisco opened up the game on offense, yet disaster struck on the fifth play of the game as running back Christian McCaffrey fumbled. Fortunately no damage was done as the defense forced a quick three and out and a punt. Brandon Aiyuk made his presence felt with an 18 yard reception. Trent Williams was called for a false start, then a hold on a broken play with Brock Purdy finding tight end George Kittle for what would have been a first down.
As a result the 49ers punted. Once again the defense looked great and forced another three and out.
Purdy did lead a drive that resulted in points which was highlighted by an 18 yard catch by Chris Conley and a 19 yard catch by Ray Ray McCloud III. Jake Moody then came on to kick a 55-yard field goal which was at the time a Super Bowl record.
With the defense looking great the Kansas City Chiefs needed an answer. Patrick Mahomes did what he does best extended a play and found Mecole Hardman Jr for 52 yards. Yet with Travis Kelce on the sidelines, the play call was to run with Isiah Pacheco who fumbled the football and 49ers defensive tackle Javon Hargrave recovered the fumble.
Interestingly after watching the sidelines of the Chiefs, it clearly shows Kelce bumping head coach Andy Reid and yelling at him to not take him off the field.
There was more frustration by Kansas City that helped the 49ers to their first touchdown of the game. As L’Jarius Sneed got called for unnecessary roughness. Juaun Jennings capped off the drive with a 21-yard touchdown pass to McCaffrey.
Mahomes then led the Chiefs on their best drive of the game yet with seconds left in the first half, Reid wisely elected to go for the field goal which Harris Butker made with ease.
Was that drive a momentum changer for the Chiefs? It certainly seemed like it. Still the 49ers defense made their presence felt, nearly coming away with a fumble recovery on the first play of the second half. Two plays later rookie safety Ji’Ayir Brown intercepted Mahomes.
What will get remembered about the third quarter for the 49ers offense was the complete lack of usage of McCaffrey, he had only once carry and that was not until late in the quarter. Meanwhile, the Chiefs offense managed a field goal by Butker who ended up with a new Super Bowl record, this one a 57-yard make, which nearly got blocked.
At this point though both offenses were sputtering yet the game changing play was one special teams. After a Chiefs punt, Darrell Luter Jr was told to get away from the football as it approached yet the ball hit his leg, making it necessary for McCloud III to recover the football, he did not get it. It took once play for Mahomes to find Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a 16-yard touchdown and to take the 13-10 lead.
As mentioned before McCaffrey only got one carry in the third quarter. That helped the 49ers offense get moving again. Aiyuk came up with a 20 yard reception, and Jennings capped the drive off with a 10 yard touchdown reception.
Unfortunately Moody missed the extra point.
Once again Mahomes led a drive down the field on the 49ers defense yet was not able to get a touchdown. Butker came on to tie the game up at 16. With the Chiefs defense getting tired, San Francisco and Shanahan had a golden opportunity to take time off the clock especially after Jennings came up with a huge 23 yard reception.
With Kansas City only having two time outs after the two-minute warning, on a third-and-four, Shanahan elected to not run the football. The result an incomplete pass, Moody then came on and drilled a 53-yard field goal. San Francisco now led 19-16.
Of course Mahomes was given way too much time to drive down the field and he picked apart the defense and were 11 yards away from the end zone before Butker came on for the game tying field goal.
The game went to overtime and inexplicably the 49ers elected to start on offense. With the new overtime rules both teams got an opportunity to possess the football. San Francisco did move the ball down the field with McCaffrey getting an opportunity to once again make his presence felt.
Once again in a third-and-four situation, Shanahan once again elected to throw. Chris Jones came with the pressure forcing Purdy to get rid of the football and throw it over the head of Jennings.
Like the previous drive Mahomes led to get to the overtime, it seemed like overtime no.2 was in order. Until the 49ers defense lost track of Hardman Jr who scored the game winning touchdown with ease.
Final score 25-22.
Besides the unfortunate situation of Luter Jr getting hit with the football while blocking on a punt return, the 49ers left points on the board with a fumble, penalties, the missed extra point, and not running the football in the third quarter.