After kicking a field goal in overtime, the San Francisco 49ers had to kick the ball back to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs with a chance to win the game with a touchdown.
Just 13 plays later, including a fourth down conversion run from Mahomes, the Chiefs future Hall of Fame quarterback fired a game-winning touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman to steal the Super Bowl from the 49ers in overtime, 25-22.
With the 49ers season now officially over, let’s look back at all the good and the bad from their 25-22 loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas.
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Good: Brock Purdy First Half / Bad: Brock Purdy Second Half
While Brock Purdy didn’t do enough for the 49ers to win the game, he was solid in his first Super Bowl appearance. Purdy threw for 255 yards on 23 of 38 passing with one touchdown toss. Purdy started strong, outplaying Mahomes in the first half, throwing for 123 yards on 10-of-15 passing.
However, the second half and overtime was a different story. Steve Spagnolo’s defense made adjustments and limited Purdy. The second-year passer couldn’t get going late, throwing for 132 yards on 13-of-23 passing in the second half and overtime.
Bad: Kyle Shanahan
In his three Super Bowl appearances, two as a head coach and one as an offensive coordinator, Kyle Shanahan has secured the lead but hasn’t been able to finish the game with a victory.
With Steve Spagnolo blitzing the run and stacking the box, Shanahan opted to keep the ball in the air instead of on the ground with McCaffrey. However, against a tough defense, the 49ers rush offense only managed to average 3.5 yards per carry.
With the lead in the second half, Shanahan continued to call pass plays that stopped the clock. The first three drives in the second half all resulted in three and outs, with under two minutes running off the clock in each drive. Coming out of halftime, Shanahan called six consecutive pass plays. Two of the first three possessions in the second half only lasted under 1:02 minutes or less.
While the 49ers managed to keep Mahomes in check, even forcing an interception, the offense failed to capitalize.
Good: Chris Conley
One of the most underrated factors of the Super Bowl was the performance of Chris Conley. Conley’s name continued to appear all over the field against the Chiefs during the Super Bowl.
On special teams, Conley recorded a pair of tackles, including a big hit. Conley also helped down a pair of punts near the goal line for the 49ers.
Conley also made an impact on offense, picking up a first down on an 18-yard pass from Purdy.
Bad: Special Teams
One clear area where the 49ers were outplayed in the Super Bowl was at special teams. Two of the defining plays of the Super Bowl came when the 49ers’ special teams unit was on the field.
While Jake Moody was solid throughout the Super Bowl, hitting a record-setting 55-yard-field goal, his blocked extra point was costly, opening the door for the Chiefs to tie the game with a field goal.
Earlier in the game, a punt that bounced off Darrell Luter Jr.’s foot that couldn’t be recovered by Ray Ray McLeod. With the Chiefs recovering the ball, Mahomes quickly slung his first touchdown pass of the game to spark the Chiefs offense.
Bad: Patrick Mahomes
While there are places to point blame towards, and the 49ers will have their regrets, this game could also quickly be summed up by Patrick Mahomes.
We might be watching arguably one of the best players of all time at the quarterback position, and to beat a player of that caliber, you have to be as near perfect as possible, and the 49ers just weren’t. Small mistakes and field goals might pass against 31 other quarterbacks but not against Mahomes, and the 49ers are paying for that.
Mahomes finished the game with 333 yards passing, two touchdowns and an interception on a 99.3 quarterback rating,
Good: Chase Young
In the Super Bowl, Chase Young arguably put together one of his best performances as a member of the 49ers. Young sparked the 49ers defense early with a sack against Patrick Mahomes. Later in the game, Young’s pressure around the edge for Mahomes into an intentional grounding penalty.
Young finished with two tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss and two quarterback hits.
Good: Jauan Jennings
In a surprise performance, wide receiver Jauan Jennings made the case for a Super Bowl MVP bid for the 49ers. Jennings’s MVP campaign started when Kyle Shanahan went into his bag of tricks and gave the wide receiver a chance to throw the ball.
After catching a pass from Brock Purdy, the former high school quarterback fired a pass of his own back across the field into the hands of Christian McCaffrey for a touchdown.
Jennings didn’t stop there, catching a touchdown of his own from Purdy later in the game. Jennings also picked up multiple tough catches, including a clutch third down in the third quarter to extend the 49ers’ drive.
Bad: OT Rules
One of the biggest decisions of the game came when Fred Warner and the 49ers won the coin toss at the end of regulation and opted to receive the ball to start overtime instead of electing to kick and get the ball second.
With the new postseason overtime rules, each team gets a chance to possess the ball. While receiving the ball first sets up the chance to get the ball first if the game goes into a sudden death period, it also leaves the door open for the kicking team to end the game with a touchdown if the receiving team is held to a field goal on the opening drive.
In hindsight, it’s easy to say the 49ers should’ve considered kicking the ball to Mahomes and the Chiefs so they would know how many points they needed to either win the game or extend overtime into sudden death.
However, with this being the first game to experience the new overtime rules, the decision to kick or receive in that situation was rather unprecedented with no clear path.
