Shanahan was not happy with his DC, and there's been tension there for a while, sad to suggest. They'll have a new DC, but they won't sniff the superbowl again in the Shanahan era, I'll go ahead and predict.
Except if the 2nd team matches, then you want the ball 1st in the next (3rd) possession. If SF had held KC to a FG, then they get the first "winner take all" drive.
He mentioned it when the clock was under 30 seconds to explain why KC wasn't taking any TOs, which was exactly what I was wondering. But when they were discussing the rules at the beginning of OT, that part wasn't clear. I think teams moving forward will realize that taking the ball 2nd in playoff OT is the better strategy.
Which part? I have no beef with Shanahan, but it's hard to get here, and all his main guys (except Purdy) just got a year slower and more run down.
That's a good point. 2nd team has advantage on their 1st possession. 1st team gets advantage on 2nd possession if they get it.
Because of how strict the NFL cap is there will always be a weak unit of a team even the best teams. Chris Jones and Sneed are going to get paid and they barely gave Jones his money this year, they have a lot of defensive players going to UFA this year so we'll see. They will have a choice to make to keep that defense together or to give Mahomes his weapons and they don't have much cap space either.
It’s hard to pick against Mahomes. When the Niners got that last field goal in regulation with a minute and a half I figured KC would win it.
They didn't actually abandon the run at any point. They didn't run the first two series in the 2nd half, but that was because they got into 2nd-and-15 in both cases. Unless they should be overly predictable and run on every first down, the real issue was just losing yards on 1st down instead of getting to 2nd and managable. On both their last 2nd half drive and their OT drive that ended in FGs, they ran on 1st down on the last set of the downs. In OT, their last set of downs was run/run/pass. So they were held to FGs despite running the ball.
Two 3rd and 4s where the 49ers could have won the game, one with 2 minutes left in the 4th, one near the goal line in OT. Both times everyone in the building knew a heavy blitz was coming except Sannahan, no hand-offs, no quick screens, no safety valves in either play, and neither play gave the ball to CMC, Deebo, or Kittle, their three best players.
Playoff OT being played like a "new game" has also been the case with the typical 1st thru 4th quarter rules on clock stoppage and time outs. We just never see it get that far. If it's still tied after the 2nd quarter of OT we'd get another halftime. Then the team that received the ball to start OT would kick off in the 3rd. With the new rules I'd take the ball first. If both teams match each other then the team that took the ball first is now the first team that can win in sudden death. A coach would be crucified if he elected to kick off to start OT and his team lost on the 3rd possession.
The "spy" concept against an all-time great passer like Mahomes is a losing strategy. It works best against QBs who run better than they pass, which is definitely not the case with Mahomes. The 49ers strategy of contain rushes worked quite well until they lost discipline late in the game (possibly because of exhaustion).
I have doubts Kyle will fire Steve Wilks but I wouldn't completely rule it out. His calm, reserved style was a big contrast vs. Robert Saleh and Demeco, who both yelled and screamed at guys regularly. During the season, it was obvious he didn't get the best effort out of players like Demeco did. Against the Chiefs, I thought the 49ers defense was quite good until they got tired.
I'm laughing at all the analysts who are saying the 49ers were wrong here. Imagine a scenario where SF kicks off. KC scores a TD. SF scores a TD. KC scores again and wins. SF would have scored a TD on every possession they had and still lost the game - it's what everyone hated about the old OT rules of "whoever gets the ball first likely wins" and everyone would have blasted SF for giving Mahomes control of the game. You want the opportunity to control your own destiny - that means you want the sudden death possession. The opposite is literally telling Mahomes that if he can score 2 TDs on 2 drives, he wins no matter what you do.
