Plenty of Blame, only one Scapegoat

[Excuses Progressive Democrat Style]

Kyle Shanahan isn’t receiving enough criticism for the 49ers
collapse Sunday.

There’s a lot of finger pointing following losses, especially
when those losses come at the hands of a 10-point underdog
starting their third quarterback of the season.

Purdy was inaccurate. Moody missed the game winner. The defense
was ridden with poor tackling. The weather was bad. The refs
were worse. Injuries to key players. Too many mistakes in a game
that ultimately wasn’t indicative of how the 49ers play.

But what shouldn’t be lost in these abnormalities, is that Kyle
Shanahan showcased poor game management. This isn’t something
new for the head coach. He was too aggressive in a time-
sensitive drive at the end of SB LI with the Falcons. He had
players questioning his strategy at the end of SB LIV.

Furthermore, he was too passive against the Cowboys at the end
of the half last January in the divisional playoffs. His
inconsistency with deciding on to-go fourth down situations can
be infuriating. And although it is up to the players to execute
better, Shanahan should be getting more criticism for his
mistakes that re-appeared in their first late-game situation
Sunday.

With San Francisco up 17-16, the Niners offense took the field
with 3:21 left in the game. This was an obvious four-minute-
offense scenario. Instead, we got a three-and-out on three pass
plays, resulting in a punt after only 25 seconds taken off the
clock. The 49ers running game wasn’t exactly dominating, but to
not start the drive with the ground attack is an egregious error.

When asked about the play-calling at that time, Shanahan pointed
out that the one-point lead wasn’t enough for him to feel
comfortable burning clock, and that picking up a first down was
more important.

Saying the clock doesn’t matter here without a first down is
frustrating. If the Niners run the ball on first down,
regardless of the yards gained or lost, they can call their next
play with roughly 2:35 remaining. After a second down run, the
clock stops at the two-minute warning. If you can put Cleveland
in a situation where they have to drive down the field against
your number one ranked defense in less than two minutes, you
have to keep that the priority.

Instead, the Browns get the ball with 2:56 and a chance to take
the lead. The defense should have held, but a couple of
penalties helped Cleveland get in field goal range where they
take the lead. Unfortunate, but you have to be confident in
putting the defense on the field against a third string
quarterback on a rainy day. Even more confident if the opponent
has less time, which limits their play calling.

But, Cleveland moved quickly enough that the offense gets the
ball back, only needing a field goal to win. And how this game
ends also led to some head-scratching about Shanahan’s strategy.

At 1:40, Purdy and company start their drive following a
touchback. After a few penalties and a big play by Brandon
Aiyuk, the 49ers are in Browns territory and are facing a 3rd
and two with 49 seconds to play. They still have one timeout.

This is where the sequence of events is on Kyle Shanahan’s
shoulders. Purdy connects with Jauan Jennings to pick up the
first down AND Jennings gets out of bounds at the Cleveland 26-
yard line, stopping the clock. The Niners have a fresh set of
downs and a timeout. All they have to do is put their rookie
kicker in the best possible spot to hit the game winner.

Instead, Shanahan calls one running play for three yards, lets
the clock run down to 9 seconds, and the rest is history. In the
span of four minutes of game time, Shanahan went from aggressive
when he shouldn’t have been too passive when he shouldn’t have
been. There was too much time left for them to not try for
another positive play and shorten the field goal.

The weather was bad - so you can look at it in two ways. The
first is that Shanahan didn’t want to risk a potential fumble on
the snap or handoff by running another play. That’s fine, except
that same risk exists on trotting your rookie kicker to nail a
40+ yard field goal.

The snap or hold could have been bad, or the rain and wind could
have adjusted the flight of the ball from Moody’s foot. Having
any positive gain to decrease the length of the path to the
uprights would have been a better option.

Shanahan is a genius. His offensive play-calling is the best in
the league, hands down. There isn’t another head coach in the
league I would trade him for. In the grand scheme of things,
this loss will likely be something forgotten by season’s end.
But how he has managed late-game situations historically,
including Sunday, is cause for concern. If the problem can’t be
corrected during a regular-season affair with a two-score
underdog, the worry will only worsen come playoff time.

When your team votes for Nancy Pelosi, it loses.

https://www.ninersnation.com/2023/10/17/23920788/49ers-browns-
blame-kyle-shanahan