I will analyse Shanahan’s game decisions in Super Bowls LI and LIV and why they cost his teams the win. I plan to do most of my research on ESPN.com and other sports media/news sources such as Bleacher Report and SI. Other sources of information I can use to research my question are postgame press conferences, media opinions, and game decisions made by the winning teams. It would be interesting to hear from other football fans' (especially Falcons/49ers) opinions on the games.
PART I: The Curse of Kyle Shanahan
Going into the 2016-17 season, football fans knew that the Falcons had promise after starting the season before 5-0 but eventually falling to 8-8. Hopefully the relationship between quarterback Matt Ryan and offensive coordinator Kyle Shananhan would strengthen and the Falcons could have a successful year. They did. Despite having a defense ranked 27th worst in points allowed, they had by far the league’s top offense averaging over 30 points a game. This was in large part to Ryan’s MVP season in which he threw 4,944 yards, 38 touchdowns, and only 7 interceptions. The Falcons ended the regular season with an 11-5 record and were rewarded with a first round bye in the playoffs.
The Falcons started their playoff run against the Seattle Seahawks, a previous opponent from the regular season. Atlanta would fall in that game 26-24 due to a missed pass interference call on the Falcons’ fourth down which ended the game. Looking to comeback from that loss and end the Seahawks season, the Falcons took care of business after falling behind 7-0 and won the game 36-20. They would face the Green Bay Packers who had beaten the Dallas Cowboys, the team with the league’s best record. The Falcons had no trouble with the Packers, scoring the first 31 points of the game and winning 44-21. The win gave Atlanta its first Super Bowl appearance since 1999.
Falcons fans would live their longest two weeks after the NFC Championship game in anticipation of the team’s second Super Bowl appearance. They would be going up against the New England Patriots dynasty led by longtime head coach Bill Belicheck and quarterback Tom Brady, nicknamed G.O.A.T. for the greatest of all time. Brady had already won four Super Bowls and would be fighting for his fifth in Houston against a heavily improved Falcons defense who only allowed 20 and 21 points against the Seahawks and Packers, respectively. Matt Ryan and Falcons’ superstar wide receiver Julio Jones would look to continue their great play from the previous weeks.
The Falcons, who once held a 25 point lead in the third quarter, were only up by eight when Julio Jones made a miraculous play that could have sealed the win. With just under five minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Jones snags a ball that looks to be sailing out of bounds and lands both of his feet in bounds right outside the Patriots 20 yard line. A field goal from this distance would give the Falcons an 11 point lead, putting the Patriots down by two possessions. All Atlanta needed to do was run the ball, granting kicker Matt Bryant an easy field goal. But instead of running the ball Shanhan opted to pass in an attempt to score a touchdown and stomp the Patriots in the ground. This decision backfired. A sack set the Falcons back at the Patriots 35 and a holding penalty set them back 10 yards further, pushing the Falcons out of field goal range and forcing them to punt. The Patriots tied the game on the ensuing drive with a touchdown and a two point conversion and ultimately won the game in overtime.
Kyle Shanahan would be awarded the head coach position for the San Francisco 49ers after having great success as the Falcons’ offensive coordinator. Rumors that Shanahan would be going to the bay after the 2016-17 season. This was unfortunate for Falcons fans because even though Shanahan was a major reason that Atlanta lost the Super Bowl, they definitely would not have gotten there without him. Shanahan would try to turn around a 49ers team that had a record of 2-14 the season before his arrival. The next year they would go 6-10, but a glimmer of light shined on the franchise when quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, the former backup QB of Tom Brady and the Patriots, won the last five games of the season. Garoppolo's 2018-19 season ended short when he tore his ACL in week three. He would come back the next season to lead the 49ers to a 13-3 record that topped the NFC.
The San Francisco 49ers would be going up against one of the elite offenses in the Kansas City Chiefs led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Winning the game would take risky, “go for it,” type playcalling to put enough points on the board to have a chance to win. Shanahan opted away from this type of playcalling, deciding to go with a more conservative approach to the game. After the Chiefs were stopped on third down with around two minutes to go in the second quarter, Shanahan did not call a timeout, which he had three of, to give the 49ers a chance to put some points up before the end of the half. In Shanahan’s defense however, this was not a huge game changing decision. It was in the second half where Shanahan opted to not go for it on 4th and 2 on the Chiefs’ 24 yard line. This was a very questionable decision in that a field goal resulting in a 3 point lead, would not pose a challenge at all for the Chiefs who had come back from 10 point deficits in their two previous playoff games. The 49ers did score a touchdown in the third quarter, giving them a 10 point lead heading into the fourth, but ended up allowing three consecutive touchdowns from the Chiefs costing them the game. The result of the game did not have as much to do with Shanahan’s decision making as it did three years prior, but maybe with some more gutsy play calling the 49ers could have held on.
After the Falcons blew a 25 point lead in Super Bowl LI and the 49ers blew a 10 point lead in Super Bowl LIV, Kyle Shanahan became part of the two biggest blown leads in Super Bowl history. This fact alone makes Shanahan the king of choking in Super Bowls. How can a coach ever come back from that?
PART II: Memories of Being a Falcons Fan
My earliest memory of going to a Falcons’ game was in 2011 against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. The Falcons had a 13-3 record going into and were favored as the number one seed. With Atlanta up 14-7 in the second quarter after Eric Weems returned a kickoff for a 102 yard touchdown, the Packers went on a 21-0 run to lead 28-14 at halftime. Along with many other fans, my dad and I left without any hope the Falcons could comeback. They didn’t, but since then I would never leave a game early again just in case of a late game miracle.
I have a very interesting story about going to a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game (in Atlanta). I am not sure of the year because the Falcons play the Bucs every season because they are divisional opponents. We were going to be late for the game because we would arrive in Atlanta on a flight right when the game would start. If my dad and I hurried, we could get there during the second quarter. Tickets were sold out, so we were forced to buy from a scalper. We were able to get tickets from him for 40 dollar each and went to the gates. When the stadium employee scanned our tickets, she said they had already been used to get inside and that she could not rescan. Upset, we started walking back to the car when a man in a suit walked up to us and said “Follow me.” My dad and I followed him through security, he handed us two free club seat tickets and told us to enjoy the game. We were shocked and excitedly went to our seats. I don’t even remember who won the game; That story was all I needed then.
After watching the Falcons win the NFC Championship against the Packers six years after getting blown out by the same team, all I remember was getting a celebratory dinner at Taco Mac while watching the Patriots clinch their spot in the Super Bowl. Skip ahead to gameday and I cannot wait till 6:00. The first half could not have gone better. Two Falcons offensive touchdowns followed by a pick-six by Robert Alford gave the Falcons a 21-3 lead at halftime. After a pretty even third quarter that saw each team score a touchdown, the Falcons completely choked in the fourth and left me heartbroken. The game reminded me of the NFC championship a few years back where the Falcons blew a 17-0 lead to the 49ers, but this felt 100 times worse. I will long for the day to see the Falcons raise the Lombardi trophy for the rest of my life.