- Niners suffered heartbreaking overtime loss to Chiefs
- Shanahan says he had made plans for new overtime rules
Kyle Shanahan has heard the criticism that, for all his accomplishments as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, he is unable to win the big games. Those calls grew louder after a second Super Bowl loss in five seasons and Shanahan is as eager as anyone to quell them.
“The fact that we keep getting there shows how much we win big games,” Shanahan said on Tuesday as the Niners headed home for the offseason two days after their 25-22 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
“These two Super Bowls have been tough, losing to Kansas City. … You guys can have any narrative you want. The success or the failure comes down to one game,” he said. “I hope that I can be a part of a team that wins the game at the end of the year. But to say the Niners can’t win a big game would be an extremely inaccurate statement.”
They have been unable to win the ultimate prize despite coming close in recent years. San Francisco blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter to the Chiefs to lose the Super Bowl four years ago.
The Niners then blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter of the 2021 NFC title game to lose to the Los Angeles Rams and lost again at that stage last season to Philadelphia when they played much of the game without a functioning quarterback.
Then came the latest Super Bowl, when they led Chiefs 10-0 early and then allowed Patrick Mahomes to lead two game-tying field goal drives in the fourth quarter and a game-winning touchdown drive in overtime.
