In the wake of what could have been the most exciting Super Bowl ever, everyone is trying to suss out exactly what happened: was Tom Brady a miracle worker or did the Falcons effectively give the game away? Things fell apart for Atlanta on both sides of the ball, but there is a lot of finger pointing in the direction of offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. 
[RELATED: Shanahan To Have Control Over 49ers’ 53-Man Roster]
Shanahan, who will serve as the next coach of the 49ers, was hired to help get the offense back on track after two abysmal years. The Niners are hoping that he’ll exercise better judgement than he did in the late stages of last night’s game. The Pats rallied back from a 28-3 deficit to bring the score to 28-20 late in regulation. Instead of running the ball three times at the Pats’ 22-yard-line with ~4:30 left, Shanahan got too cute and called for a deep pass play on second down. Ryan got sacked on the play and the Falcons’ subsequent attempts to dig out of the hole only pushed them further out of field goal range. Atlanta was forced to punt on fourth down, and that set up the Pats’ tying drive.
Should this be chalked up to a momentary lapse in judgement, or do you think less of Shanahan’s ability to lead SF after last night’s costly error? Vote here and explain your position in the comments below.
Yes, totally. Great play caller, total choke artist when it comes to crunch time, in not having basic logic of football. Who cares if you lost one yard on the previous plays. Run the ball up the middle for 2 plays. Heck, take two knees if you have to, force the time outs and try a kick from 43 yards. Win the game. Insane.
On the flip side there were ample opportunities for the D to make a stop and it didn’t happen.
Its hard to make stops when you’re on the field 2/3 of the game with no rest.
Quinn’s responsible ultimately for play calls. He is the Head Coach.
If Shanahan is doing the offensive play calling, then it’s not Quinn’s fault. Quinn hired Shanahan to make the right calls (especially since defense is Quinn’s strength), he should be reasonable to expect that Shanahan will call the correct plays when it counts. Why hire OCs and DCs if the head coach is going to do all the play calling?
Except for the fact that Kyle Shannahan is the offensive coordinator and he calls the plays..
How do we not know that Ryan didn’t check out of run plays? Also, Ryan is the one that took the sack, he should have never taken. It was a horrible decision from him not the play caller.
You don’t expect the MVP of the league to take such a horrible sack when you make the play call.
I saw that Ryan showed his true colors when the pressure was on and the lights were the brightest.
Hmm, it’s his fault that Trey Flowers blew right through their best O-lineman (Alex Mack) and took a sack. It’s not like Ryan was in the pocket for too long or ran right into the pressure, but I don’t know if I’d blame him for the sack unless he did audible from a run to a pass.
Also, I’m sure the pressure really got to him when he made that perfect pass to Julio Jones (as much as Julio made a spectacular catch, Ryan’s throw was exactly where it needed to be) and I’m sure it’s also his fault that his team got called for a holding penalty that effectively pushed them out of FG range (when on that very play, Ryan converted a pass to get back some yardage).
He’s going to look worse next year with the team he’s going to have so I don’t think it makes much of a difference
Haha true. 49ers are doomed.
Slow clap
Considering he was totally unaware that running the ball basically sealed a victory, yes. Now when he goes to a team with an extreme lack of talent it’s hard to imagine him looking very good at all.
Well, rest easy, I don’t think we have to worry about the 49ers choking in the Super Bowl next year.
I don’t understand why everyone would be OK with a field goal that wasn’t guaranteed. He needed to stay aggressive to try for a Touchdown. A Touchdown would have ended the game right there a fiels goal would not have. Lets blame the Offensive line who stopped blocking and the defense who was all over Brady in the first half but no where close in the second. The Patriots adjusted and the Falcons had to adjust as well that is on the players and the HC not Shanahan. I would rather have a guy be willing to stay aggressive instead if one who starts playing not to lose.
A field goal would have made it a two score game.
Haha yeah. Essentially any points sealed the game.
yes if they make the fg. Considering they had an XP that wasn’t even kicked because the pats got to the holder (wasn’t offside btw) no fg was guaranteed.
sure running the ball would have forced pats to use timeouts but facing a team like the pats with a qb like brady, he’s experienced and calm enough to deal with that.
the Falcons discipline is what cost them. holding calls pass interference all late hurt.
While a touchdown definitely ends the game, a field goal would’ve been just as good. A field goal wasn’t guaranteed, but let’s not act like a TD was either.
If the Falcons run the ball, either the clock runs and the Pats have less time to work with, or the Pats use their time outs but everything has to be designed to conserve time. Either way, three runs (or at least two runs and a pass) would have left the Patriots with roughly 3 minutes. If the Falcons kick the FG (again, not a guarantee), not only do the Patriots have to score a TD quickly and convert on the extra point (also not a guarantee since Gostkowski missed one earlier in the game), they then have to do an onside kick and recover it. Then with whatever time remains, the Patriots have to either go for a Hail Mary or try to get close enough to get Gostkowski a chance to tie it up while also not burning the clock. Instead, by playing for the TD (and calling passes) the Patriots only had to score a TD and convert the two point conversion.
Kyle is supremely confident and smug. Settling for a field goal would have been beneath him. He was going to bury the Patriots.
He got carried away with his own self-image and assumed superiority. And, ironically, was buried in the process.
Only time will tell if he’s absorbed any humility, but I’m skeptical.
It seems like they felt they were parading down the field at will and didn’t need to settle for a field goal. Both the Indians in the World Series and the Falcons last night failed to deliver when their fate was essentially in their own hands… but they left the door open, and the Cubs and Patriots opted to walk through it.
The team that says “We’ve got this!” halfway through the game so often ends up regretting it.
No way u can look at a body of work and Judge one moment. Even tho that’s the biggest. But, he’s still the best coordinator in the NFL and deserves his shot. I haven’t read anything about Dan Quinn who completely called the dogs off on D. Brady had all the time he wanted in the 4th quarter
He didn’t call the dogs off because the dogs were never set off. The Falcons got pressure with four rushers (or less) all game. The Falcons continued to get some pressure, but the Patriots adjusted at halftime better than the Falcons.
To add to the above… the last QB you want to blitz is Tom Brady (best in NFL against blitz, flawless) which is why they never turned on the dogs.
Hard to think less of someone when I did not think much of him in the first place. I am here in Atlanta but not a Falcons fan, yet I was never impressed with him.
Pat played a great game in terms of the come back but they have 2 offensive coordinators to thank for bone headed play calling. Seattle and Atlanta just needed to run the ball and the clock.
If they played it safe and missed the field goal than the criticism would be that he was to conservative. The problem was a lack of execution on the players part. Coaches make easy scapegoats.
True that
Blowing a game like this is more psychological than anything else. There’s always moments you can point to, and it’s not wrong to question some of Shanahan’s calls.
But, I think you can see what happened… after they got Lady Gaga off the field the Falcons were trying to win Super Bowl LI with every snap and the Patriots were just worrying about the play in front of them.
Hey, he came THAT close to p[ulling off a miracle. I think he’ll be sorely missed in Atlanta next year. Hopefully not for the next 50!
I think in that situation, there wouldn’t have been much argument if they’d run twice and missed the field goal. Heck, if nothing else you burn more time off the clock and maybe force NE to use their time outs. Plus you give your dog tired defense a little more rest, which they badly needed. But it’s not all on Shanahan…Quinn’s the head coach and in the end, it’s his call on whether they sit on the ball or not.
Situational football is the most important part of coaching. Shanahan doesnt understand it. And the 49ers missed out on Mcdaniels. Only time will tell. But not understanding the situation must have niner fans nervous
I’m not nervous or worried as a niners fan should they have just ran the ball and kept trying for field goals in my mind yes but in till you gotta do the job he has to do meaning kyle then really none of us have anything to say about the play calling were not in that heat of moment where you gotta decided what to do with the ball at moment for the first play of game or after that so that’s how I feel everyone has there opinions and I respect that but just remember ur not the guy in question here so who knows what half of you guys posting here would do if you were in that moment
Looking forward to seeing what this man can do with the niners I’m excited
It’s going to take at least a few years for him to do much with that team as they need to draft and sign some FA’s as right now they have no depth as most NFL analysts have noted.
I don’t view him differently but what does it matter we are talking about the 49ers they would hire the guy who collects the money from fans who are parking in the garage if they could
Lol oh man that was a good one, I’m just hoping something good comes from all of this, Maybe I’m to much of a optimistic person but it would be nice to look at 2 to 4 years from now and we’re in much better place as a team
Why should we think any less of him. Sure he made mistake but he a young coach vs one of the best teams in NFL history. Let’s not forget what he did for this team in two years. Before they were a avg playoff team at best. He had them playing at a super bowl level and help make Matt Ryan MVP. That more then what most OCs do in a career
Hey this ain’t politics ya all. You don’t have to love your guy and hate the other guy. He blew the game, every little kid knows you play it safe with a big lead, you don’t risk the win for ego. But he s smart, he’ll learn and he’s the best guy the yorks could dream of getting. I really think he needs a old time D.C. Though. Too bad wade phillips is gone, maybe Crennel? Need that old time experience input.
Shanahan is about to to kill the game for the 49ers, only reason the falcons lost is because they were playing against the greatest quarterback in history…
Is this really a post?
I guess it’s always easier in hindsight to blame the offense for giving up a 28-3 lead lol
Think less of him? No. Is he the one most to blame for losing the SB? Yes. I think it will be a very painful lesson learned for him and I suspect he won’t ever make that kind of mistake again. He’s still a great offensive mind and I also suspect he turns around SF in a few years.
All this second guessing is normal when a team collapses after leading by 22 pts. He stayed aggressive but his players didn’t execute. And you have to ask where the defense was. Why weren’t any blitzes call when Brady was picking the D apart. This is just the all too familiar practice of knocking the golden boy off his pedestal after we all put him up there.
And if you have ever watched any big game involving Tom Brady, you would know that the key is to not blitz him (as he’s one of the best QBs against the blitz) and to get pressure with four or less rushers, which the Falcons did for three quarters. Even the final drive the Falcons got pressure, it just didn’t result in a sack or a significant QB hit/disruption. Hard to really expect the defense to still have energy that late in the game when they were out there for basically the entire game.