Super Bowl 58: 49ers vs Chiefs

[GswStorm3]

Shanahan not knowing the overtime rules is unforgivable. It's really unfortunate he's nothing like his father in big games.

[Samurai]

FWIW, here are the best and worst PFF grades for the Niners:
Offense: Conley (91.8 but only 8 snaps), Trent (87.3), Jennings (82.3), Ray Ray (76.9 but only counts his 6 snaps on offense and not his 12 snaps on not-so-special teams), Purdy (73.9 - kinda surprised he was this high).

Defense: Lenoir ((80.5), Brown (79.6), Hargrave (79.2), Armstead (75.3), Ward (74.5).

And the worst:
Offense: Banks (40.2), Burford (52.9), Mitchell (59.3 but only 4 snaps).
Defense: Gipson (34.7), Burks (35.3), Givens (48).

As expected, our OL really hurt us. While Trent did not allow any pressures in 44 pass-blocking snaps, Banks allowed a team high five, McKivitz allowed four, Burford three, and Brendel and Feliciano allowed one each. As a group, they really made it tough for Purdy to find any rhythm. With all the talk and concern over Chase Young and his (lack of) motor in the playoff games, he delivered his best score (73.4) since a week 14 win against Seattle. Unfortunately Bosa's score of 63.4 was his lowest of the playoffs and replays show that his misread on a 4th and 1 allowed Mahomes to easily run for the first down; a correct play on Bosa's part could have ended the game in a victory right there.

obviously having to play Orem Burks instead of Greenlaw really hurt us in the second half. And I would expect that Brown and Hufanga would/should be our starting safeties next season. I hope Lynch focuses on improving our OL this offseason.

[thesack12]

Read on Twitter

I blame Kyle for this one.

If he would have argued and bitched loud enough, he would have convinced the refs to throw a very late flag.

[thesack12]

FWIW, here are the best and worst PFF grades for the Niners:
Offense: Conley (91.8 but only 8 snaps), Trent (87.3), Jennings (82.3), Ray Ray (76.9 but only counts his 6 snaps on offense and not his 12 snaps on not-so-special teams), Purdy (73.9 - kinda surprised he was this high).

Defense: Lenoir ((80.5), Brown (79.6), Hargrave (79.2), Armstead (75.3), Ward (74.5).

And the worst:
Offense: Banks (40.2), Burford (52.9), Mitchell (59.3 but only 4 snaps).
Defense: Gipson (34.7), Burks (35.3), Givens (48).

As expected, our OL really hurt us. While Trent did not allow any pressures in 44 pass-blocking snaps, Banks allowed a team high five, McKivitz allowed four, Burford three, and Brendel and Feliciano allowed one each. As a group, they really made it tough for Purdy to find any rhythm. With all the talk and concern over Chase Young and his (lack of) motor in the playoff games, he delivered his best score (73.4) since a week 14 win against Seattle. Unfortunately Bosa's score of 63.4 was his lowest of the playoffs and replays show that his misread on a 4th and 1 allowed Mahomes to easily run for the first down; a correct play on Bosa's part could have ended the game in a victory right there.

obviously having to play Orem Burks instead of Greenlaw really hurt us in the second half. And I would expect that Brown and Hufanga would/should be our starting safeties next season. I hope Lynch focuses on improving our OL this offseason.

Thanks for the write up. A few quick comments...

Trent didn't allow any pressures, but he did commit a couple penalties. Back to back penalties at one point. So he wasn't perfect, the entire OL could have did a better job.

My main gripe with the pressure on Brock, especially in regards to the blitzes is there rarely seemed to be an available hot read. That's probably because Spags did such a good job disguising the fronts, so SF couldn't tell when and who was coming. Still, KC is known to be blitz happy, so having a built in hot route release valve on most of the playcalls would have been beneficial.

I don't think I will ever understand how some of these grades are compiled. Bosa got credited for 12 pressures on 46 Mahomes' dropbacks, and Bosa probably wasn't on the field for a handful of those dropbacks. Nick lived in the KC backfield all night. Could he have made a few more plays, and maybe missed a couple assignments, yep but using the eye test I have no clue how he could have graded out worse then Young, who seemed to go MIA after halftime.

[wco81]

Tell that to Jets fans, Lions fans, Cardinals fans, Vikings fans, Browns fans, Dolphins fans, The last 30 years of Cowboys fans, Jaguars fans, Texans fans, Titans fans, Raiders fans, Chargers fans, Panthers fans, Falcons fans.

Tell them how annual deep playoff runs "don't mean squat."

I swear man some of y'all think the 49ers are entitled to automatically make the conference championship game.

If you’re satisfied with coming close to winning rings, not actually winning rings, then you give Shanahan another extension, and another one after that. He will be here for over 20 years.

But he had leads!

OK moral victories FTW!

Come on dude, who do you want? Who is going to magically come in, change pretty much everything and win us a Super Bowl?

I don’t know who’d do better. I just know Kyle isn’t good enough. Two SBs as HC and one as OC. Numerous regular season games.

If you want to ignore the evidence be my guest.

I just have no expectations of championships with him in charge.

I would love to eat my words. Highly unlikely though.

[thesack12]

If you’re satisfied with coming close to winning rings, not actually winning rings, then you give Shanahan another extension, and another one after that. He will be here for over 20 years.

But he had leads!

OK moral victories FTW!

Come on dude, who do you want? Who is going to magically come in, change pretty much everything and win us a Super Bowl?

I don’t know who’d do better. I just know Kyle isn’t good enough. Two SBs as HC and one as OC. Numerous regular season games.

If you want to ignore the evidence be my guest.

I just have no expectations of championships with him in charge.

I would love to eat my words. Highly unlikely though.

You don't know who would be better, because winning a Super Bowl is literally the only permissible result. Its the highest possible bar and strictest possible standard to set.

If winning a Super Bowl is the only metric we are going to consider, I guess that means that Mike McCarthy is a better coach than Kyle. Bruce Arians is a better coach than Kyle. Doug Pederson is a better coach than Kyle. Gary Kubiak is a better coach than Kyle. Brian Billick is a better coach than Kyle.

I also find it odd that you mention "multiple regular season games" here, yet in a previous post you completely dismiss multiple super bowl appearances by classifying them as "moral victories." So I guess the games that the 49ers lose are the only ones that matter???

[thesack12]

Read on Twitter

And now Andy Reid is considered one best coaches of all time. The first one is always the hardest one.

[49er4life1979]

The leads mean nothing. As long as Kyle is in charge, the team won’t win it all.

In fact, with the looming salary cap situation and the relatively good health they had this season, they may not get another shot.

What he’s shown is that he can’t learn. In the clutch, he can’t deliver. Two 3rd downs in the red zone, everyone knew the blitz was coming both times and they don’t come close to converting because the play calls are poor.

I agree they were very fortunate this season with injuries. May not be the case next season. This makes 2024 draft critically important with only 1 more year of Purdys cheap contract.

[wco81]

Come on dude, who do you want? Who is going to magically come in, change pretty much everything and win us a Super Bowl?

I don’t know who’d do better. I just know Kyle isn’t good enough. Two SBs as HC and one as OC. Numerous regular season games.

If you want to ignore the evidence be my guest.

I just have no expectations of championships with him in charge.

I would love to eat my words. Highly unlikely though.

You don't know who would be better, because winning a Super Bowl is literally the only permissible result. Its the highest possible bar and strictest possible standard to set.

If winning a Super Bowl is the only metric we are going to consider, I guess that means that Mike McCarthy is a better coach than Kyle. Bruce Arians is a better coach than Kyle. Doug Pederson is a better coach than Kyle. Gary Kubiak is a better coach than Kyle. Brian Billick is a better coach than Kyle.

I also find it odd that you mention "multiple regular season games" here, yet in a previous post you completely dismiss multiple super bowl appearances by classifying them as "moral victories." So I guess the games that the 49ers lose are the only ones that matter???

Well everyone on the team wants to win a SB, including Shanahan. So to them that is the only “permissible” result.

He got the team to the SB twice. are you going to be happy if the team makes another SB appearance or two without winning it?

Those one time champion coaches, would Kyle himself trade places with them? I bet he would. They had less flawed rosters, which may not have been up to them, such as in the case of McCarthy or Pederson. But they absolutely called and managed better SB games to win championships.

Kyle simply has not been good enough at calling plays and managing games on the biggest stage.

How is that in dispute?

He’s relatively young so he could improve but I have no confidence that he will. Or if and when he does improve, it won’t be until well after his contract ends at the end of 2025.

Are you willing to give him another 5-6 years after 2025 to see if he learns or reset the team?

I also have zero confidence in his drafting of the top 100 players. So the longer he is in charge, the more first to third round picks he will squander.

Maybe if the team will take way his player personnel and get in a better GM …

[CharityStripe34]

Kyle is a great offensive mind but tends to suck situationally. Is he a rigid personality type that forces his scheme in the game despite changing situations? It's like all the good stuff in the first half that was working they totally abandoned. Bizarre that they didn't run more plays to move Purdy and the pocket to try and quell the rush/blitzes. Or just screen them to death.

The next development for Brock is the Brees one. Where he takes more command of the offense and Kyle gives him the freedom to alter protections and plays based on what the defense is showing him. He's already proven to be smart enough. I have this weird feeling that Kyle just has a set script and tells the QB to run it, with maybe one option to either pass or run.

[RIPskaterdude]

I seriously can't get over the fact that they had a wide open BA for a TD in OT on 3rd down, but couldn't give Purdy more than 2 seconds to throw. This is worse than the Sanders overthrow by Jimmy

[thesack12]

I don’t know who’d do better. I just know Kyle isn’t good enough. Two SBs as HC and one as OC. Numerous regular season games.

If you want to ignore the evidence be my guest.

I just have no expectations of championships with him in charge.

I would love to eat my words. Highly unlikely though.

You don't know who would be better, because winning a Super Bowl is literally the only permissible result. Its the highest possible bar and strictest possible standard to set.

If winning a Super Bowl is the only metric we are going to consider, I guess that means that Mike McCarthy is a better coach than Kyle. Bruce Arians is a better coach than Kyle. Doug Pederson is a better coach than Kyle. Gary Kubiak is a better coach than Kyle. Brian Billick is a better coach than Kyle.

I also find it odd that you mention "multiple regular season games" here, yet in a previous post you completely dismiss multiple super bowl appearances by classifying them as "moral victories." So I guess the games that the 49ers lose are the only ones that matter???

Well everyone on the team wants to win a SB, including Shanahan. So to them that is the only “permissible” result.

He got the team to the SB twice. are you going to be happy if the team makes another SB appearance or two without winning it?

Those one time champion coaches, would Kyle himself trade places with them? I bet he would. They had less flawed rosters, which may not have been up to them, such as in the case of McCarthy or Pederson. But they absolutely called and managed better SB games to win championships.

Kyle simply has not been good enough at calling plays and managing games on the biggest stage.

How is that in dispute?

He’s relatively young so he could improve but I have no confidence that he will. Or if and when he does improve, it won’t be until well after his contract ends at the end of 2025.

Are you willing to give him another 5-6 years after 2025 to see if he learns or reset the team?

I also have zero confidence in his drafting of the top 100 players. So the longer he is in charge, the more first to third round picks he will squander.

Maybe if the team will take way his player personnel and get in a better GM …

When you are calling for a guy to get fired, who has gotten his team within a play or two of winning the Super Bowl on multiple occasions. You have layed out a very clear, ridiculously high standard, and there is literally only 1 result that satisfies that standard, winning a Super Bowl. Literally any other result would be a failure for your un-named replacement coach. You want somebody better than Kyle, well you just demanded a guy clear the highest bar possible with ZERO room for error.

Unless Kyle intends to retire sometime real soon, I'm highly confident he wouldn't trade careers with any of those other coaches.

I think Mike McCarthy having Aaron Rodgers might of played large role in him getting a ring. You know the same Mike McCarthy that only got past the 2nd round twice in 17 freaking years of being an Head coach, 12 of those having Rodgers as his QB.

I think Bruce Arians having Tom Brady at peak motivation with arguably the best collection of weapons he had in his entire career might have played a big part in Arians winning a SB. The same Bruce Arians that had exactly 1 playoff win in 6 years before getting Brady. By the way, the year before Brady the Bucs went 7-9 and missed the playoffs.

I think Gary Kubiak having Peyton Manning as his QB, along with a legit lockdown defense probably played a sizable role in him getting a ring. The same Gary Kuibiak that only had 3 playoff appearances in 10 years as a head coach. By the way Kubiak inherited a 12-4 team with Peyton Manning already in house.

I think Brian Billick having one of the best defenses of all time, probably had a little to do with his super bowl win. This is the same Brian Billick that won exactly 1 playoff game total in his 8 other years as a coach.

Doug Pederson rode the unbelievable Nick Foles' magic carpet ride to his Lombardi. Something Foles never before or never again was even in the realm of that caliber of play, but props to Pederson for mining that out of Foles. Its worth noting that outside of that Super Bowl year, Pederson has never made it past the 2nd round.

You are absolutely correct, Kyle's playcalling and game management goes awry at times. There is no debating that, however I'm not sure why we are demanding perfection from him. Was it Kyle's fault the defense gagged away a game tying drive + a game winning drive? Was it Kyle's fault that Luter's foot was in the 1 square foot of the field where the punt landed?

Did Andy Reid call an amazing game, or was it a lot of Patrick Mahomes' magic who had several scrambles that extended plays and resulted in success. KC had 3 points on 175 total yards going into halftime, with Kelce having 1 catch for 1 yard. They had 298 yards and scored 22 points after halftime, with Kelce having 8 catches for 92 yards. The glaring factor here is Dre Greenlaw not playing in the 2nd half.

Well, I guess he's the head coach so everything rubber bands back onto his shoulders. Which I get, and makes sense. However, if we are going to play that game, you have to be consistent with it and absolve Kyle from blame of the Falcons/Patriots super bowl. Kyle was just the OC. Dan Quinn didn't make the proper adjustments, and if he's the head coach he's responsible for everything on both sides of the ball.

I also notice that you are trying to play on both sides of the fence when it comes to the roster. On one hand, you knock Kyle for not getting the job done despite having a great roster, then on the other hand you blame him for the bad draft picks. So you are essentially saying that Kyle sucks as team building, yet he had a huge role in building the great roster that you are knocking Kyle for not doing enough with. It makes no sense, you are are just apparently allergic to giving Kyle credit for anything.

Look man, at the end of the day I get it. You are upset and frustrated that the team hasn't been able to get over the hump. I'm right there with you. I'm not satisfied. I like everyone else who is a fan of the team has the paramount goal of winning the Super Bowl.

I just think firing the coach, who is very good if not great, is not the right way to go about trying to get over the hump. I think Kyle is a huge reason why this team is as good as it is, year in year out. We have to remember he inherited a 2-14 team, with a crap roster. He took that team to a Super Bowl in his 3rd year, even without having a high end QB. He then got his team to another Super Bowl, with a 7th round sophomore QB, and held the lead in Overtime of that Super Bowl.

This team needs minor tweaks here and there, and perhaps just a smidge better luck. For example, there were 7 fumbles in that game 2 for SF and 5 for KC. The Chiefs recovered SIX of 7 of those. If even one of those 6 bounces a different way, we very well could be having an entirely different conversation right now. Or maybe you don't have a CRITICAL defensive player suffer a devastating injury in super fluky fashion, and he misses 70% of the game.

[wco81]

First of all I didn't call for him to be fired.

Yes I admit it's a risk that the next HC might not even get the team to the SB.

But I'm reasonably sure that under Shanahan, the 49ers won't win a SB. So from that standpoint, better to reset sooner than later.

You can trash those other coaches all you want but they have a ring each, something Kyle will likely NEVER have. In the biggest games, they made the calls and managed the game and got results.

I really don't want to see him get another extension though. That would be doubling down on runner-up status.

Or at a minimum, hire a strong GM and let him run the drafts and free agency. In fact do it before the next draft if possible, because the odds are, the picks which the team makes in the first 3 rounds are unlikely to make a significant impact next season or the season after that.

[thesack12]

First of all I didn't call for him to be fired.

Yes I admit it's a risk that the next HC might not even get the team to the SB.

But I'm reasonably sure that under Shanahan, the 49ers won't win a SB. So from that standpoint, better to reset sooner than later.

You can trash those other coaches all you want but they have a ring each, something Kyle will likely NEVER have. In the biggest games, they made the calls and managed the game and got results.

I really don't want to see him get another extension though. That would be doubling down on runner-up status.

Or at a minimum, hire a strong GM and let him run the drafts and free agency. In fact do it before the next draft if possible, because the odds are, the picks which the team makes in the first 3 rounds are unlikely to make a significant impact next season or the season after that.

Sure those other coaches got the results, but how much of those results were driven by them? For instance, Mike McCarthy is well known for his amazing game management skills, right?

[thesack12]

Read on Twitter

[arich35]

I seriously can't get over the fact that they had a wide open BA for a TD in OT on 3rd down, but couldn't give Purdy more than 2 seconds to throw. This is worse than the Sanders overthrow by Jimmy

Even Jennings beat his man pretty easily and would have been down inside the 5 more than likely if they just give Purdy an extra half second

[thesack12]

I seriously can't get over the fact that they had a wide open BA for a TD in OT on 3rd down, but couldn't give Purdy more than 2 seconds to throw. This is worse than the Sanders overthrow by Jimmy

Even Jennings beat his man pretty easily and would have been down inside the 5 more than likely if they just give Purdy an extra half second

Yep, the CB was frozen. Jennings had at least 10 feet of separation, he would of had a walk in TD.

Thanks Burford.

[CharityStripe34]

Kittle, BA and Jajuan all got open on the play. Unfortunately, so did Chris Jones.

Kyle needs to do a lot of soul-searching. I hope Lynch and Jed sit with him and have a very long talk.

[thesack12]

Kittle, BA and Jajuan all got open on the play. Unfortunately, so did Chris Jones.

Kyle needs to do a lot of soul-searching. I hope Lynch and Jed sit with him and have a very long talk.

Read on Twitter

With multiple receivers getting open almost instantly, and the RG admitting he missed the assignment, it would appear that the play design and protection scheme was fine.

[wco81]

First of all I didn't call for him to be fired.

Yes I admit it's a risk that the next HC might not even get the team to the SB.

But I'm reasonably sure that under Shanahan, the 49ers won't win a SB. So from that standpoint, better to reset sooner than later.

You can trash those other coaches all you want but they have a ring each, something Kyle will likely NEVER have. In the biggest games, they made the calls and managed the game and got results.

I really don't want to see him get another extension though. That would be doubling down on runner-up status.

Or at a minimum, hire a strong GM and let him run the drafts and free agency. In fact do it before the next draft if possible, because the odds are, the picks which the team makes in the first 3 rounds are unlikely to make a significant impact next season or the season after that.

Sure those other coaches got the results, but how much of those results were driven by them? For instance, Mike McCarthy is well known for his amazing game management skills, right?

Well he got it right once in the biggest game, which is more than you can say for Shanahan.