Football fans are ripping on San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan over his questionable call to start with the ball in overtime.
The 49ers won the OT coin toss against the Kansas City Chiefs. Under the new playoff overtime rules that were implemented in 2022, every team is guaranteed at least one possession even if the team who possesses the ball first gets a touchdown.
Shanahan said after the game that the 49ers wanted the ball first so that they would be guaranteed another possession if the contest was tied after the first two drives.
#49ers HC Kyle Shanahan said they elected to take the ball to start overtime so they would be assured the ball should the game have been tied after the first two possessions. By that point, it would've be sudden death.
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) February 12, 2024
Kyle Shanahan on why they decided to take the ball first considering the new OT playoff rules #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/B9f3JdoQvq
— Robert Littal BSO (@BSO) February 12, 2024
Understandably, fans on X/Twitter wasted no time criticizing Shanahan’s questionable decision:
Analytics. Are you kidding me? He is supposed to be an offensive guru, but based his decisions on analytics. 🤦🏾♂️
— Fredrick W. Lee (@FredrickWLee) February 12, 2024
You know Andy Reid once he gets inducted into the pro football Hall of Fame he’s gonna probably throw a huge shout out to Kyle Shanahan for basically handing them to Super Bowls on a silver platter.
— Rawdoggish 🐶 (@J_DriverIII) February 12, 2024
That type of answer is why he’s 0-3 in SB— Eric Hart (@EricHartPE) February 12, 2024
Time to fire Kyle Shanahan. A loss is unacceptable, especially to this Chiefs team. Let alone a Matt Nagy led team. Least clutch coach of all time and most overrated coach ever. We’ll always be inferior to the Chiefs and the rest of the NFC
— Kevin (@TroIledByFields) February 12, 2024
brandon staley moment
— a girl with no face ⚡️ (@Stop_Hammerzeit) February 12, 2024
gets paid millions to make these decisions btw
— Kmac (@KMaC703) February 12, 2024