The San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan’s desire to have the ball for the opening drive of overtime in the Super Bowl has received a lot of attention during the last week.
Mike McRoberts of Championship Analytics, who advises five NFL clubs, recently discussed whether or not Shanahan made the proper decision before to Kansas City’s walk-off touchdown in the extra period, which followed a San Francisco field goal. He spoke with Peter King of NBC Sports.
“I considered it to be nearly a tie,” McRoberts said. “If it had been up to me, I would have followed Kyle’s lead. This rule’s creator did a good job, as each team receives at least one complete possession and the result shouldn’t be decided by a coin flip. It’s not at all gimmicky.”
Soon after the Chiefs game ended in a loss, Shanahan expressed his desire for the “sudden-death advantage” due to the NFL’s new postseason rules that allow both teams to have at least one possession of the ball in overtime. Shanahan wanted the first shot at sudden death if the clubs were tied after the first two drives of the session.
Some did, however, draw attention to the fact that Kansas City’s quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, had the advantage of knowing that failing to score at the end of the drive would have meant a defeat when they were awarded the second possession in overtime.
King stated that the 49ers defense was “gassed” and in need of a break after it “played 39 snaps in the second half and had recently left the field after an 11-play KC drive to tie the game with three seconds left in regulation” in his most recent “Football Morning in America” column. In the 108 meaningful football quarters that Kansas City has played, Mahomes had not even attempted a two-point convert, according to King.
However, notable NFL figures like former MVP Cam Newton and star quarterback Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers have criticized Shanahan for receiving the ball first in overtime on February 11. Although one can appreciate the arguments made by people like Newton, it is important to remember that Shanahan’s defense stopped a 4th and 1 play that would have resulted in a Super Bowl victory for the team.
