Shanahan absolutely choked in both the Falcons game and yesterday. His play calling is atrocious. The Falcons win the Superbowl if on 2nd and 11 up 8 with under 5 minutes left in FG range if the Falcons just take knees, but instead of running the ball, he calls a pass on 2nd and 11, Ryan gets sacked for -12 yards. So now it is 3rd and 23 from the 35 (still FG range), but there is holding on yet another pass play, so now it is 3rd and 33 from the 45 and no longer in FG range. Incomplete pass and a punt back to NE with 3:40 left and a 1 score game. NE of course drives down the field gets the TD, gets the 2 point, and ties the game.
That is the perhaps the worst coaching sequence in Superbowl history. The Falcons win the game if they just run the ball 2 more times, even if they lose yards (like they did on 1st down) they are still in FG range and a FG there wins the game (the runs also eat up a ton of clock or force NE to take timeouts).
Yesterday, Shanahan did the same thing in the 4th quarter. Niners are up by 3 with 6:13 left and have a 1st and 10 on their own 20. On 1st down they hand the ball off and get 5 yards. So what do they do on 2nd and 5, hey lets drop back into shotgun and throw the ball. yeah that seems like the right strategy. Incomplete pass. Another pass on 3rd and 5, again incomplete pass. Punt back to the Chiefs with over 5 minutes left and 0 timeouts taken. Horrible play calling sequence. I mean you don't trust your QB to throw the ball at the end of the 1st half (the no timeout was a poor decision as well), but you trust him to throw the ball with the game hanging in the balance when you still have the lead as time is winding down. Even if runs on 2nd and 3rd down don't get a 1st down, you've taken well over a minute off the clock (instead of less than 10 seconds), but what do you think the odds of the Chiefs actually stopping the Niners 2 plays only needing 5 yards was. I'd say very small. The Niners might not have won the game getting a 1st down there, but their odds of doing so would have dramatically increased. And the game is riddled with this weird play calling. I mean even the first FG scoring drive, the Niners are running the ball down the Chiefs throats getting to the KC 25, they then throw the ball 3 straight times for 0 yards net (they had a 5 yard offside to move a bit closer) and settle for a FG.
Shanahan got horribly outclassed as a coach in that game. A better offensive game plan and the Niners win that game easily (as it played out, maybe not if they played the game again).
