Tom Krasovic: 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan isn’t to blame for Super Bowl loss; simply put, Chiefs earned title

Kyle Shanahan didn’t cost his 49ers a Super Bowl victory Sunday — although it’s understandable why some folks are blaming the San Francisco coach for the 25-22 defeat.

Shanahan oversees a Niners offense that scored only 10 points through three quarters despite receiving two turnovers and, in many instances, better field position.

CBS analyst Tony Romo accused Shanahan of neglecting the ground game during the team’s scoreless third quarter. Critics noted that Chiefs coach Andy Reid said he would’ve kicked off in overtime instead of receiving, as Shanahan did.

None of those critiques added up to Shanahan deserving blame for the defeat.

The 49ers’ decision not to run the ball amid two consecutive three-and-outs while leading 10-3 owed mostly to Kansas City wrecking first-down pass plays and a guard’s false start on second-and-10, an error that may have nixed a run try.

I can’t equate Shanahan trying to pass out of the ensuing two holes — second-and-18 and second-and-15 — as shortchanging the ground game.

Both passes were from run looks and run personnel, but Chiefs All-Pro lineman Chris Jones and linebacker Leo Chenal still pressured 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, resulting in a screen pass that lost eight yards and an incompletion.

Shanahan’s designs later in each series led to seemingly favorable matchups for 49ers stars George Kittle and Deebo Samuel. Those targets resulted in incompletions, the first one against a rookie backup safety, the second against a veteran safety.

Christian McCaffrey got a first-down handoff on the offense’s third drive of the quarter only for K.C.’s Mike Pennal to discard All-Pro tackle Trent Williams and stop McCaffrey for no gain.

How about Shanahan’s decision entering overtime to accept the ball instead of kicking off?

It was defensible. Certainly it rested a 49ers defense that had worked hard at the end of the fourth quarter across an 11-play drive.

Not kicking off did afford the Chiefs an informational advantage. When the Chiefs finally got the ball in overtime, they knew they needed to match the 49ers’ field goal that made it 22-19.

The 49ers said they wanted the third possession. Because of blocking error that Jones exploited to force a field goal and Mahomes going 8 for 8 with 27 rushing yards on the TD drive, they never got it.

Where Shanahan came up short was not using his timeouts on defense late in the first half. Doing so may have given his team a better chance to add to its 10-3 lead.

Some 49ers players said they didn’t know the overtime’s rules. That made Shanahan look ill-prepared. At any rate, the players knew they had to stop the Chiefs from scoring the winning TD and failed to do it.

This, too: Chiefs receiver Mecole Hardman being unaware that a touchdown would win the game didn’t prevent him from making that TD catch.

Sounding off

Kittle didn’t heed the football commandment “play to the echo of the whistle,” and it may have cost his team three to seven points. Kittle let up after completing his firm block of Chiefs end George Karlaftis that had created a lane for McCaffrey. While the two Georges squared off two yards apart after the running back churned upfield in traffic, Kittle lost his angle on Karlaftis. So when the defender saw McCaffrey’s fumble, he got the jump on Kittle, beating him and two other Niners to the ball at Kansas City’s 27. Then the whistle sounded.

• Travis Kelce found an extra gear to run away from 49ers linebacker Fred Warner on a short crossing route that netted 22 yards, shrinking a field-goal try at the end of regulation. Kelce was timed at 19.68 mph, his fastest speed as a ball carrier over the last seven seasons, per Next Gen Stats.

Yes, Kelce was moving Swiftly.

• Kansas City’s Trent McDuffie’s pass deflection in the first quarter, leading to a 55-yard field goal by San Francisco, was likely worth four points in addition to being difficult. The Chiefs’ All-Pro CB had no safety help but still was able to swat aside Purdy’s strike toward Samuel in the end zone.

• The game’s best unit? Steve Spagnuolo’s defense.

A former assistant under famed Eagles coordinator Jim Johnson — a mentor also to Ron Rivera, a coordinator with the San Diego Chargers team that went 13-3 in 2009 — Spagnuolo called intricate blitzes that wrecked a pair of third-and-4 passes that otherwise may have landed the 49ers their sixth Lombardi Trophy.

• Shanahan’s 0-3 record in Super Bowls is best explained by the caliber of opponents: Tom Brady and Bill Belichick seven years ago when Shanahan coordinated Atlanta’s offense (and, yes, should’ve called more runs than he did after the Falcons went ahead 28-3), followed by the Mahomes-Reid-Spagnuolo Chiefs four years ago and Sunday.

• The Niners losing standout LB Dre Greenlaw to a torn Achilles tendon in the first half was akin to the Bengals losing All-Pro nose tackle Tim Krumrie to four leg fractures in the first quarter of Super Bowl XXIII, a blow the 49ers exploited in their 20-16 victory.

• The triple-option mastery of Patrick Mahomes and coach Andy Reid was crucial to both Chiefs’ victories against the 49ers. On fourth-and-1 in overtime, Mahomes’ option-keeper punished defensive end Nick Bosa (who had a tremendous game) for losing the edge in the dubious belief the ball would go to RB Isiah Pacheco.

• Zebras gaveth and tooketh away. Twice, the Chiefs’ offense was robbed by a faulty short-yardage spot. Zapping the Niners’ D, unflagged was a hold by left tackle Donavan Smith that enabled a Mahomes’ third-down conversion run, leading to a Chiefs field goal.

Today’s final word comes from Warner, a San Marcos native and Mission Hills High School graduate:

“Super Bowls aren’t given. They’re taken. Kansas City took this one.”