Kyle Shanahan’s Super Bowl loss will either haunt him and define his NFL legacy or it’ll help him grow into a successful head football coach for the San Francisco 49ers — and there really is no in between.
In the aftermath of the greatest Super Bowl collapse in 51 years, the Falcons offensive coordinator is taking the brunt of the blame.
A 3rd and 1 passing play call from Shanahan midway through the fourth quarter turned into a Matt Ryan fumble, which avalanched into an eventual loss to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. The Falcons choked on a 28-3 third quarter lead. This game, and Shanahan’s negative impact on it, will not be forgotten for many moons.
A few days ago, Shanahan was getting as much credit — if not more — for Atlanta’s rise than head coach Dan Quinn. Matt Ryan won the MVP award, new weapons emerged like Austin Hooper and Taylor Gabriel and the Falcons statistically had a top 10 offense of all-time. Shanahan was pulling the strings of a historically dangerous offense and he’s expected to one day lift the 49ers to the very same level.
But the deck of cards all came tumbling down. Shanahan had a chance to walk into Santa Clara with the momentum of having beaten Bill Belichick on a championship stage. Instead, the hype has been aired out of his balloon.
Aggressive, pedal-to-the-medal play calling got the Falcons to the Super Bowl, but you can argue it was also their undoing. According to WSB-TV in Atlanta, Shanahan told those close to him at the team hotel, “I blew it.”
“It’s not really the run-pass ratio that I look at,” Shanahan said at the podium afterwards. “It’s you stay on the field, and you run your offense. When went three-and-out two times, which was huge. I think we had second-and-1 on both of those. To not convert on second-and-1 and then third, it was tough. That’s why we let them get back into the game.”
There’s two options for Shanahan going forward:
A) He can obsess over the agonizing burn of this loss. He can wallow in the scrutiny fired his way from critics in the media. He can tone down his creativity on offense out of fear he’s not conservative enough in big games. He can let this devastation change him to his core.
B) Or … He can turn this football tragedy into a triumph with the 49ers.
Kyle Shanahan does not want to be defined by his play calling in a Super Bowl loss. And the only true way for him to redeem himself is to go and win a Super Bowl with the 49ers. He now knows what it takes to get the big game, but he’ll have to become a better coach over time to learn how to finish it.
The problem is that San Francisco is about as far away as playing in February as any team has ever been. There’s no quarterback and the 49ers possess the 32nd ranked defense from a year ago. Not only is the talent on the roster depleted, so is an attitude and culture. Shanahan is essentially walking into an empty building in Santa Clara. It’s going to take him and GM John Lynch years to play architect — something they’ve both never done before.
Shanahan’s biggest challenge is how can he channel his heartbreaking loss into motivation for the 49ers? They weren’t along for his ride and won’t be fueled by the same fire he is. Great coaches know how to get their team to play with emotion. In terms of his time management, play calling and scheming may have to take a backseat. Shanahan has to get to know these 49ers players and make sure they personally invest and believe in him. We have no idea if he can do that.
But you see, Shanahan has been through much more adversity than you think, and he’s rebounded from it. The Robert Griffin III fallout in Washington brutally played out through the media and Kyle got bungled together with his dad Mike, even though all the decisions weren’t his. A chaotic and overbearing Cleveland front office texted down to the sidelines during games. He turned those two nightmare scenarios into the Atlanta Falcons. He’s shown the ability to recover quickly.
But there is no greater adversity in the NFL than losing a Super Bowl you should’ve won. The last two Super Bowl scapegoats — Pete Carroll play call against New England and Cam Newton’s effort against Denver — have not returned to glory yet. This really can be a turning point in a football career.
Shanahan’s stock has cooled off a little bit. There’s no other way to put it.
Of course, the 37-year-old deserves a ton of credit for helping the Falcons boat race out to an early, commanding lead in Houston. But there’s another phrase for almost winning in the NFL: It’s called losing.
The next chapter is up to him, and it makes you wonder now if he’s more inclined to mortgage the future in a trade for a Jimmy Garoppolo or Kirk Cousins to instantly ensure a better chance at winning. Yep, a Super Bowl loss could affect decision making now for the 49ers. More tough times are on the way, and Kyle Shanahan understands this.
But given his track record and strong reputation around the league, it would foolish and unwise to think he won’t become better from this Super Bowl meltdown. We just may not know for five or six years on how much Shanahan has actually grown.