Another Super Bowl is in the books, and it was once again the Kansas City Chiefs who came out on top, beating the San Francisco 49ers, 25-22, in overtime. This game was only the second Super Bowl to go to overtime and the first with the new playoff extension rules.
Unlike the regular season, where a touchdown on the first possession wins the game in overtime, both offenses gain possession of the ball under the new rules unless the first drive ends in a safety.
The 49ers won the coin toss and had all the power in their hands. They chose to receive the ball firstsomething many football fans, and even some players, disagreed with.
Chiefs star defensive tackle Chris Jones was one person surprised by the pick, as his team made it clear it would have deferred if it had won the coin toss.
“They’re crazy,” Jones said of the 49ers. “Because the rules of overtime have changed, where both teams get the ball, it doesn’t matter who scores. So originally you want to let the other team get the ball, stop it, hold it. [to] three, so you know what you’ve got. Or if you stop them, they punt, so all you have to do is kick three.”
Taking the ball first gives the other team four downs to work on during their practice. Situations where the Chiefs could have punted if they had the ball to begin with turned into four-man territory since the Niners already had possession.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan, who is now 0-3 in Super Bowls as a coach, defended his decisionsaying he was preparing for a situation where both teams scored a touchdown and it ended in sudden death.
“It’s something we’ve talked about, you know, and none of us have a lot of experience with it, but we went through all the analytics and talked with these guys and we just thought this would be better, we just wanted the ball on third down.” Shanahan said after the game, via a league transcript. “If both teams drew and scored, we wanted to be the ones with the chance to go in.
Hindsight is everything and obviously things didn’t work out for Shanahan and Co. The Niners’ 13 overtime play ended with a 27-yard Jake Moody field goal, allowing the Chiefs to win the game if they scored a touched, what they did. did. Kansas City receiver Mecole Hardman had the game-winning score, never allowing the 49ers to touch the ball again.
While overtime was something the bosses discussed in detailby reviewing the new rules from training camp, several 49ers players said they didn’t even know the protocol. They admitted that they thought a touchdown would win the game, so it was the better choice to choose to receive.
With this victory, the Chiefs are officially a dynasty, winning three Lombardi Trophies in five years.
