If you’re an Atlanta Falcons fan, you might want to cover your eyes.
The Falcons blew a 25-point lead to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI, and former offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan still is thinking about the overtime loss.
The current San Francisco 49ers head coach recently went on “The Rich Eisen Show,” and discussed the play call he most regrets from the loss.
“Yeah, there’s no doubt,” Shanahan said when asked if there is one play in particular that haunts him, as transcribed by FOX Sports’ Cameron DaSilva. “The second-and-10 that we got sacked on, I wish I had dialed up something differently. And then the next play, we called an option to (Mohamed) Sanu, we got right back in field goal range, but we had a holding call on the play and it knocked us out some more, and an incompletion on the next one.”
But Shanahan also admitted he’s haunted by more than the egregious sack quarterback Matt Ryan took.
“It’s not just that. I go through every single play in the game, but when it comes down to it, the big one was the sack that we had on second-and-10,” Shanahan said.
Of course, the blame doesn’t fall solely on Shanahan. Ryan is a veteran quarterback and made the mistake of taking the sack. But if Shanahan had elected to run the ball, the Falcons would have been able to kick a field goal to go up by two scores, and likely would have won the Super Bowl.
That one’s going to hurt for a while.
Thumbnail photo via Brian Spurlock/USA TODAY Sports Images
