Kyle Shanahan’s desperate quest for a first Super Bowl victory took another extraordinary twist. He could hardly believe it. Some magic from Brock Purdy, some ladybug fortune and a comeback from San Francisco.
After leaving the tragic, hapless Detroit Lions behind, Shanahan and the 49ers ventured into the big dance for the second time in five seasons. With a 62-32 record over that span, including the playoffs, Shanahan has used seven quarterbacks. One of them, fourth-string Josh Johnson, threw thirteen passes before succumbing to an injury.
With the Ravens safely cooped up in Baltimore for another year — Lamar Jackson was by all accounts the MVP as the Niners had a nightmare on Christmas Day — a familiar, terrifying foe lurks. A serial winner with his feet already under the table in Las Vegas.
Since the teams met in Miami in 2020, Patrick Mahomes has missed just four games, half due to injury and rested for the other two. And if Shanahan’s 65.95% winning percentage since the start of the 2019 season is impressive, Kansas City’s is a phenomenal 77.55%. The NFL’s dominant force has gone 76-22, including the playoffs. And two Super Bowls.
The first was a blow to Shanahan. Andy Reid passed on the choker tag as the Chiefs scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter in a 31-20 win that marked a dynastic run. What Shanahan would give to get the monkey off his back. After watching his father Mike win two Super Bowls in Denver, his handling of a 28-3 lead against the New England Patriots in Houston must haunt him forever.
Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks will have the unenviable task of putting together a game plan that limits Mahomes’ options and stops the run, while Shanahan will try to figure out a way to let his playmakers dictate the game before going with the back stand against the wall. That’s been the case with lucky wins over the Green Bay Packers and now a devastated Detroit. If it is a plan, it is seriously flawed, but it seems to be working.
With the Chiefs’ gnarly defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo calling a clinic to thwart Jackson in Baltimore, Shanahan needs Purdy to work his magic again. The still-distributed quarterback has been shaky during both first halves of this playoff run, but has a knack for getting lucky when it matters most.
Never more so than when the Lions first failed on fourth down. Purdy stepped back, unleashed an imperfect deep pass that bounced off the facemask of Kindle Vildor and sailed into the hands of a diving Aiyuk for a 51-yard gain.
“At that point, I look at it like we need a play. I’m not going to be stupid and just throw the ball up, but you know, (Aiyuk) is one-on-one, so I’m going to take that (opportunity),” Purdy said, “especially in situations like this. of a game where we need that kind of game. People can say what they want, but I gave my husband a chance.’
“Before the game a ladybug landed on my shoe… Just good luck, God was with us today, great win, banging Niner gang,” he memorably told Erin Andrews as red and gold ticker tape fell on the field at Levi’s . Stadium.
It changed the game. And perhaps the future of at least one franchise.
“We thought if we could get it going and make it a game on both ends, it would be a matter of time before we could score some points, but the way their offense was going, their defense did some things to Get us off the field, but as soon as BA made the game it unlocked with such an explosive and the whole team was unlocked,” Shanahan said. “That was huge.”
“And right after that you felt all the momentum with our players on our sideline, and the stadium kind of turned, and we thought that was it after that,” he added.
Detroit had been pretty much perfect beforehand. Their brand of smashmouth football had created a 24-7 lead. But mistakes cost them dearly as the Niners rode a wave of fortune for the second time in eight days.
“They didn’t let us lie in the first half,” tight end George Kittle said.
Purdy – whose stat line reads: 20-of-31 for 267 yards with a touchdown and an interception, plus five rushes for 48 yards – added: “If I’m down 17 at the half, I honestly think, ‘Okay God, you brought me here, win or lose, I’m going to glorify you.”
“And that’s my peace, that’s the joy, that’s the steadfastness – that’s where I get it from… I leaned into it, sure enough, we could come back.”
Poor Jared Goff, whose name was chanted in Honolulu blue by the legion of fans, did not have a happy return to California. He had enjoyed a pressure-free first half, but was given a rude awakening by San Francisco’s defense in the second half.
He refused to criticize Campbell for going for it (“Love it. Love it. It shows he believes in us”) and backed teammate Josh Reynolds after making two key drops.
“Josh is a stud,” Goff said. ‘He made a mistake. We had a lot of mistakes there. I missed throws. I brought bags. He made a mistake and it happens.”
This grueling season will be considerably poorer without Baltimore and Detroit, but the best teams don’t always win. The 1998 Minnesota Vikings, 92 Niners and even the 2019 Ravens know that particular pain all too well.
But so do the courageous underdogs. When they woke up Monday morning, unfriendly Detroit was no longer this year’s destination team. Dan Campbell put it well when he started his press conference. “When you lose like that, it’s hard. You feel like your heart is being ripped out.”
It’s something the 49ers know all too well. There are still a few key pieces left from the team that spent almost all its time in Miami, with Fred Warner, Arik Armstead and George Kittle, joined by a rookie class of Nick Bosa, Deebo Samuel and “Big play” Dre Greenlaw.
Samuel suffered a shoulder injury against Detroit and will have almost two weeks to improve his condition. It wasn’t helped by a cheap shot from former Eagle CJ Gardner-Johnson as the pair renewed their rivalry in last season’s NFC Championship game.
But while the Niners needed all their experience and a touch of Lady Luck to overcome Detroit, the Chiefs certainly won’t be so charitable. They also have Miami veterans in Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Chris Jones.
And after setting up the fourth Super Bowl rematch among head coaches, it may or may not be notable that in the previous battles (Chuck Noll-Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson-Marv Levy and Tom Coughlin-Bill Belichick) the man who won the first and also won the second.