Well, I was right about one thing about the Super Bowl LIV: everyone will be talking about Kyle Shanahan come Monday.
Just for all the wrong reasons.
The man tangentially involved in the Falcons' 28-3 blown Super Bowl to the Patriots now has a blown Lombardi Trophy of his own.
28-3 ... meet your cousin, 20-10.
The 49ers led with the ball by that margin with under 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
And then they completely fell apart, allowing the 49ers to knock down the door to Andy Reid's first title with a 31-20 victory for the Chiefs.
Up 10 ... to down 11 — a 21-0 run — in the blink of an eye.
That's called a choke. Of epic proportions.
Per @ESPNStatsInfo, Kyle Shanahan has now been a coach on the two Super Bowl teams with the highest win probability ... that ended up losing the game.
Falcons 99.7% (vs. Patriots in SB LI)
49ers 96.1% (vs. Chiefs in SB LIV)
— Ben Fawkes (@BFawkesESPN) February 3, 2020
No pass interference on Rudolph
Pass interference on Kittle
Figure it out, NFL#SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/zjjRAKficq
— Tony Clements (@TonyClementsTC) February 3, 2020
.@Chiefs take the lead behind Mahomes and Damien Williams ?pic.twitter.com/SbcKYLvs0x
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 3, 2020
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Taken separately, the Falcons' Super Bowl loss and tonight can be understood.
Super Bowl LI was really on Falcons head coach Dan Quinn because he made the game management decisions. Leading 28-12 with 9 minutes left, it was on Quinn to tell Shanahan to run the ball on 3rd and 1 from the Atlanta 36 to kick a field goal that would basically seal the game. An offensive coordinator's job is to score points and he's going to do that until he's told not to. Third and 1 and is a great shotplay down. Instead, Matt Ryan was sacked, the Falcons punted and the comeback by the Patriots was still on.
But now, after Sunday night, Shanahan will be tagged with both of them. He'll be considered a choker, someone who can't manage a complete game. Great gameplanner and team constructor, but when the chips are down he loses his cool — which he did a few times on Sunday night — and control of the game.
And that, right now, is fair.
Two of the worst Super Bowl collapses and Shanahan was in the middle of both of them. That's not a coincidence, that's a pattern ... until he has his own Reid moment and breaks through.