Kyle Shanahan insists he's not haunted by 28-3 Super Bowl loss to Patriots
BOSTON -- Kyle Shanahan will man the sidelines on Sunday evening in Las Vegas, as he looks to lead the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl victory. It will mark his third time coaching in football's biggest game and his second time as head coach.
In New England, Shanahan's Super Bowl debut is part of Patriots lore, as he was the offensive coordinator for the 2016 Atlanta Falcons. Those Falcons famously opened up a 28-3 over Tom Brady and the Patriots, only to not score for the final 22:29 of regulation before losing in overtime. The Patriots won, 34-28, exactly seven years ago to the day. It was the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history ... but it was also the most epic collapse in Super Bowl history as well.
With that history always looming over Shanahan's head, the coach was asked by Peter King if he's still "haunted" by that loss.
"No," Shanahan told King. "It hurts. It doesn't kill you. You understand what happened. You understand you can handle it. You can take it. 'Haunted' is just such the wrong word. It makes you stronger, really. But, you know, if you tell me before that game you're going to blow a 28-3 lead and lose, I'd be like, 'Do I ever come out of my room again?' You realize, this is sports. Any one of 20 different plays would've changed that game. But I also understand that the quarterback on the other side [Tom Brady] did the most unbelievable thing I've ever seen. He performed surgery for an entire second half."
Brady was, unquestionably, great in that game, going 21-for-27 with 246 yards, a touchdown, and a two-point conversion pass in the fourth quarter and overtime alone. Yet some basic decisions by Shanahan -- like having Matt Ryan take a five-step drop while in field goal range, leading to a back-breaking sack followed by an equally destructive holding penalty -- contributed to the unimaginable loss.
Still, Shanahan insisted that his loss as head coach of the 49ers against the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV stings him more to this day.
"The harder one was the Kansas City game, personally," Shanahan told King. "As you get older and you go through the experience, you just ... you try to control everything. You realize you can't. You also realize you can handle it. And you realize how much you love it."
It's rather interesting because, with some time having passed to allow for reflection, Shanahan clearly understands that his team lost to the greatest quarterback of all time playing at his absolute peak. That has perhaps eased the pain. Yet for the second time in five years, Shanahan's 49ers have an opportunity to prevent Patrick Mahomes from holding the Lombardi amid a swirling storm of confetti. If the Niners come up short again, then Mahomes will have a third Super Bowl under his belt at the age of 28, well on his way toward establishing his own case as one of the very best of all time. The 49ers won't be able to impede that progress entirely, but a win on Sunday in Las Vegas would at the very least slow Mahomes down while delivering Shanahan a long-awaited Super Bowl title.
