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Kyle Shanahan, 49ers once filled with promises and hope, end season with all too familiar feeling of hurt (369 hits)

As Patrick Mahomes rolled out to his right and found an open Mecole Hardman for the game and Super Bowl clinching touchdown in the waning seconds of Overtime, it materialized an almost unofficial begin to a new dynasty in the National Football League, as the Kansas City Chiefs become the first time in 20 years to win back to back Super Bowls, and their 3rd Lombardi Trophy in 5 years, but as with all big games legacies are formed on both sides and we certainly saw that unfold tonight.

Kyle Shanahan, coach of the losing San Francisco 49ers when asked about what are the right words to give his team after such an emotional loss simply stated “There’s no right words right now. It hurts, everybody understands that.” The unfortunate thing about this though, is that Shanahan knows more about this feeling arguably than anyone in the modern era. While the Chiefs added a 3rd Super Bowl trophy to their case in 5 years, Shanahan either as a Head Coach or an Offensive Coordinator as he served with the Atlanta Falcons from 2015-2016 is now 0-3 in Super Bowls, all games in which his team at one point held at least a 10 point lead in. So while, now 3-time Super Bowl winning QB Patrick Mahomes is rightfully already being discussed amongst the greatest of all time, and his coach Andy Reid continues to climb the ranks as being one of the best play callers we’ve ever seen, Kyle Shanahan is beginning to build one where whether rightly or wrongly, he’s seen as a “choker” of some sorts that as the moments get more intense that call for the correct, and effective decisions in a game that could swing who wins it all he is a guy who will for lack of a better word, shrink up and this leaves questions of, “for as great as Shanahan is, is he good enough to get over the top?” as one that will surely be discussed all offseason, and in general until Shanahan is able to in fact win a Super Bowl for his team.

The truth is, that the all time greats from every era kept other great coaches and players from prospering as much as they otherwise would have. Patrick Ewing’s Knicks, Reggie Miller’s Pacers, Clyde Drexler’s Trail Blazers, Charles Barkley’s Suns, Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp’s Supersonics, and Karl Malone and John Stockton’s Utah Jazz were all great teams that effectively were blocked from winning it all because they all happened to exist during Michael Jordan’s era, and we could likely be seeing that in the NFL now with Patrick Mahomes and his Kansas City Chiefs as they continue to run roughshod over the rest of the league and much like Josh Allen’s Bills, Lamar Jackson’s Ravens, Jalen Hurts’ Eagles, Kyle Shanahan and his San Francisco 49ers could be just one of many casualties of this era, but with the history of Shanahan and poor decisions that have given up leads and lead to losses in this spot prior, the excuse of it just being the “Chiefs era” isn’t one that will sit well with Niners fans. This is an organization and fanbase that prides themselves on being innovative, forward thinking, and have a proven history in being successful doing so. This is an organization that was once where and feels like they should be tonight, where the Chiefs are which are back to back champions, and instead much like every year since their last Super Bowl in 1994, they’re left scratching their head, wondering where it all went wrong.