San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is undoubtedly the premier offensive coach in the NFL. He has a multitude of followers who are now head coaches and other offensive play-callers, spanning across a significant portion of the league.
However, at this moment, none of that holds any significance. This is because, for the third time in a Super Bowl, Shanahan, whether as the offensive coordinator or head coach, has squandered a lead of at least 10 points.
This is the most challenging aspect of reaching such high-profile games – if you continue to lose them, that becomes the sole definition of you. For Shanahan, it includes the infamous loss in Super Bowl LI as the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons, where they infamously blew a 28-3 lead. Additionally, there are two Super Bowls (LVI and LVIII) where he had a 10-point advantage over the Chiefs but failed to secure victory. Furthermore, Shanahan has been on the losing side of the only two overtime Super Bowls – LI and the current one.
Sometimes, history can be incredibly disappointing.
Shanahan is not the only coach to face this intense scrutiny. Tom Landry struggled to overcome the Vince Lombardi Packers and Blanton Collier’s Cleveland Browns in the late 1960s. John Madden’s Oakland Raiders reached three consecutive conference championships but lost them all to the eventual Super Bowl winners from 1973 to 1975. The list of teams overshadowed by Bill Belichick’s dominance with the New England Patriots, where he won six Super Bowls, is quite extensive.
Once you finally overcome these obstacles, the narrative begins to fade away. It happened for Landry and Madden when they won their own Super Bowls. However, in Shanahan’s case, we are still left unsatisfied when it comes to the grandest game. Over time, this will inevitably complicate his legacy, as it currently does.
Until he manages to alter this narrative, the disappointment remains. This time around, it seemed like Shanahan had the perfect team to achieve victory. Brock Purdy had flawlessly executed his offensive strategies in ways no other quarterback had managed. Purdy’s targets possessed exceptional talent, and Steve Wilks’ defense completely dominated the Chiefs throughout the game… until the final drive that culminated in Patrick Mahomes’ three-yard touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman with three seconds remaining in the first overtime, resulting in a 25-22 Chiefs triumph.
Similar to Belichick’s Patriots, the Chiefs now stand as the only other team in the new millennium to secure back-to-back Super Bowl championships. With three titles in five years, they have become the new dynasty, and Mahomes is an unstoppable force.
Hence, it is Shanahan who finds himself on the wrong side of history and the dynasty.
Shanahan’s credentials are undeniable. No other play caller and designer on offense can disorient defenses quite like him. However, the response to such a statement will now be, “If he is truly exceptional, why can’t he sustain it when it matters most?”
This is a fair, albeit harsh, question.
Regarding what Shanahan can do to dismantle this narrative, it may require reaching the Super Bowl in a year when the Chiefs somehow fail to make it. Alternatively, he may have to hope, although possibly in vain, that circumstances will turn in his favor if he faces this unstoppable force once again.
For now, all that remains is the unique pain of consistently falling short in the same manner – an arduous struggle reminiscent of Sisyphus rolling an impossibly heavy boulder up a hill, feeling as though he is facing the wrath of the gods.
According to the Source touchdownwire.usatoday.com