49ers’ Kyle Shanahan Explains Costly Overtime Decision In Super Bowl LVIII

Super Bowl LVIII between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs was only the second time in its storied history that the Super Bowl went to overtime.

And 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan had a decision to make before the extra frame began.

Due to new postseason playoff rules that were introduced in 2022, each team would receive a chance to possess the ball even if the opening drive of overtime ended with a touchdown.

It seemed with those rules in place the team getting the ball second would be in a slightly better position, knowing exactly what they needed to accomplish to either win or extend the game. But Shanahan thought otherwise.

The 49ers won the coin toss and elected to receive. All went well when they kicked a field goal to open overtime, but they couldn’t stop Patrick Mahomes on the ensuing possession. Mahomes drove the Chiefs down the field and hit Mecole Hardman on a three-yard touchdown pass to lift Kansas City to a thrilling 25-22 win over the 49ers at Allegiant Stadium.

“It’s just something we talked about,” Shanahan told reporters about electing to receive to start overtime, per NBC Sports Bay Area. “None of us have a ton of experience of it, but we went through all the analytics and talked with those guys. We wanted the ball third. If both teams matched and scored, we wanted to be the ones who had the chance to go win. We got that field goal, so we knew we had to hold them at least to a field goal. If we did, we felt it was in our hands after that.”

The 49ers looked in good shape when they chewed up nearly eight minutes of the clock to start the extra session. But their drive stalled out at the Kansas City 9-yard line and Jake Moody hit a 27-yard field goal to put the Chiefs ahead. Shanahan said there was no consideration to go for it on fourth-and-4 in that situation.

But Shanahan’s plan on getting the ball back again never came to fruition. And he has Mahomes to thank for that.