Super Bowl losers’ history repeats. 49ers certainly fit the mold, and Shanahan’s to blame

Kyle Shanahan refuses to learn from history, which is why he won’t get the chance to repeat it any time soon.

We know it’s been a week, but you Gold Rushers can’t stop thinking about it, can you? The halftime stutter. The two-score lead that turned ghost. The running when they should have passes and passing when they should have run.

The 49ers coach accepts no blame for that 31-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV, saying he wouldn’t change a single call he called.

Give him time. Regret will come. Young arrogance always yields to self-kicking humility, because life has a way of arm-barring it out of you.

Shanahan is going to learn what you 49ers fans learned the last time you lost in the Super Bowl. Remember that team? A brilliant young head coach in Jim Harbaugh, a violent pass rush, an unstoppable run game and a rising quarterback star.

That squad lost to the Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII, 34-31, and swore they’d be back the next year. That team had the clever general manager, loaded draft classes, supportive ownership. It was built to be a dynasty.

Funny how plans never go as planned.

That’s why LIV should have you 49ers fans livid. These windows don’t stay open for anybody who doesn’t answer to the name Patriots. Just ask Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay, or Drew Brees and New Orleans, two champions without a return trip.

New England is the only Super Bowl loser to come back and win The Game the next year. Nine of the past 20 Super Bowl losers didn’t even make the playoffs, including this year’s Rams.

One does not simply get a mulligan when they blow their big chance. And, this was San Francisco’s best big chance.

No one could block their pass rush. No one could stop their run game. No one could crack their secondary. No one could guess what Shanahan was going to dial up on his play sheet next.

Shanahan said he didn’t use timeouts at the end of the first half because he didn’t want the Chiefs to get the ball back and score. Did he forget his defense was playing lights out to that point?

Shanahan said he didn’t run the ball in the fourth quarter, when leading 20-17, because he wanted to move the chains instead of eating the clock. Did he unremember that his offense has moved the chains all postseason by running the ball?

Did he forget that running the ball and gaining first downs aren’t mutually exclusive?

We’ll tell you what happened. He got too conservative as the Falcons play caller when they kissed off a 28-3 lead to the Patriots three years back. He responded this time by overcorrecting his way into a ditch on the other side of the road.

This doesn’t make him a bad coach, and no one is saying to fire the guy. He turned 49ers owner Jed York’s tire fire into a 13-3 conference champion in three seasons on the job.

What’s going to make him a bad coach is his refusal to admit he blew it. And before you say it’s on quarterback Jimmy Garappolo for overthrowing Emmanuel Sanders at the end of the game, ask yourself who asked Jimmy G to do something he wasn’t good at doing in the first place?

We know Jimmy G isn’t all that. Shanahan showed as much by not going for it before halftime. For Shanahan to recuse himself of culpability is to blame it on the players he handpicked for the job. That sort of leadership will get him where it got Jimmy Harbaugh.

Here’s hoping you 49ers fans enjoyed this run as much as you did the 2013 run. Because, if Shanahan can’t own his fair share in this, you’ll be the next Super Bowl loser we never see again.

This story was originally published February 9, 2020 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Super Bowl losers’ history repeats. 49ers certainly fit the mold, and Shanahan’s to blame."