NFL Takeaways: Super Bowl

Photo by Tim Nwachukwu from Getty Images

I swear, it’s like I time traveled and watched the 2020 playoffs all over again.

It even had the Ravens abandoning the run game in a home playoff game!

Sorry. That was mean.

Let’s get to what we learned from the Super Bowl.

Chiefs defeat 49ers 25-22

Kansas City Chiefs

This game was the perfect microcosm for the Chiefs season in general.

The beginning of the game was a complete mess for the offense.

They had no push up front. No semblance of a run game. Andy Reid was making bad coaching mistakes.

Hell, it even had Travis Kelce angry on the sideline like he was on Christmas Day against the Raiders!

(Which, for the record, I think the Kelce-Andy Reid thing has been way over discussed and is not that big of a deal).

And then, when it looked like the old season Chiefs were back, a switch flipped.

Reid’s play calling improved. Mahomes found running lanes and quick routes to Kelce to get big chunk yards.

And the whole reason it was possible was due to Steve Spagnuolo’s excellent defense.

Chris Jones was a wrecking ball (and should have been Super Bowl MVP), while Trent McDuffie was excellent in coverage and shut down some excellent targets for San Francisco.

With the Chiefs defense keeping them in the game, the Chiefs were able to find their rhythm.

It all cumulated in the game winning overtime drive, which included a triple option and a throwback to last year’s Super Bowl for the game winning touchdown.

All they needed was some time.

San Francisco 49ers

I said this months ago.

The 2023 San Francisco 49ers were the same team as the 2019 San Francisco 49ers.

The defense? Absolutely amazing.

The weapons? Insanely good.

And they have the best play caller in football.

But if called upon, I had worries that the quarterback could make the plays needed to clinch a championship.

And this time, there was an added element of having absolutely zero faith in Kyle Shanahan’s game management.

He was at fault for 28-3, but I didn’t think anything of it long term.

He was at fault for throwing up 20-10 against Kansas City in 2020 when Jimmy G couldn’t make the throws, and I started to believe he hadn’t learned his lesson.

And when he decided to throw with leads against Cleveland this year in terrible weather which ended up costing them the game, I realized he didn’t learn anything at all.

(That doesn’t even bring us to him apparently never informing his players that the overtime rules were different).

And that brings us to the 3rd quarter.

The Niners led 10-3 with the Chiefs getting the ball, and Patrick Mahomes threw an interception.

The Niners next drive was a 3 and out, featuring three straight passes.

After another stop, the Niners following drive was a 3 and out with three straight passes.

And then after a Chiefs field goal, the Niners had a run up the middle, followed by two more passes for another 3 and out.

The game management was poor, so it came down to the quarterback to make the throws.

Purdy’s first quarter was excellent, going 8-10 and getting settled into the game.

After that, he went 15-28. Which is fine, but it’s not good enough for the Super Bowl.

And then there was how he played outside of the system.

When Purdy got the ball out in less than 3 seconds (meaning quick routes), he was 17-22. He was excellent.

When he held the ball longer than 3 seconds, he went 6-16.

The Niners, twice in 5 years, have had a 10 point Super Bowl lead over the Kansas City Chiefs.

They have nothing to show for it.

Meet the new boss.

Same as the old boss.