LAS VEGAS -- Here’s what 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan had to say after the 25-22 overtime loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday:
On the overall feelings of each team’s performance: “Yeah, just two real good teams. Went back and forth throughout the whole game and both teams played their (butts) off, but, and then they got it done.”
On the post-game emotions: “I mean, we all hurt, and everyone knows how it feels and don’t have a lot. We all hurt and don’t have a lot of words for it. Obviously, we’re hurting, our team’s hurting, but that’s how it goes when you put yourself out there. I’m real proud of our guys, no regrets with our team. I thought our guys played so hard today not everything was perfect by any means, but if I’m going to lose with a group of guys, I’d do it with those guys any time and we’ll get over this and come back next year ready to go.”
On the struggle for the offensive line during the overtime rush: “On the third down? It looked like a protection bust up the middle. We were going to Jauan (Jennings). I know it looked like Jauan killed him and won pretty good, but Chris Jones got loose in the middle. I think there was a mistake, not sure, but he’s a hard guy to block.”
On the overtime field goal: “No, we never thought about it there fourth-and-4. I mean even if we do go and score, they still can go down and match it and so not there wasn’t a thought there.”
On the decision to take the ball first with the new overtime rules: “This is something we talked about with, you know that none of us have a ton of experience of it but we went through all the analytics and talked with those guys and we just thought it would be better, we just wanted the ball third. If both teams matched and scored, we wanted to be the ones who had the chance to go in. We got that field goal, so we knew we had to hold them to at least a field goal. And if we did then we thought it was in our hands after that.”
On the defense feeling gassed by overtime: “We decided that before, before (Dre) Greenlaw tore his Achilles. I’m not sure about George (Kittle), it was a shoulder thing. He kind of went there at the end. It was a little bit off and on, but he was playing through a lot of pain there.”
On not shaking hands with Andy Reid: “No, we talked on Monday. I mean, last year, or when we played each other last time, it took about 25 minutes to shake his hand. So, we both talked on Monday that regardless of who won, I mean I love Andy, I’m tight with Andy, but we talked both of us are going to do that because it’s too hard to get to each other after these Super Bowls.”
On tone toward team after this loss compared to others: “There’s nothing different to say, I mean I don’t care how you lose when you lose Super Bowls, especially ones you think you can pull off, it hurts. When you’re in the NFL, I think every team should hurt, except for one at the end. We’ve gotten pretty damn close, but we haven’t pulled it off. We’re hurting right now, but it doesn’t take away from how proud of our guys I am. I’m really proud of them today, too. As part of sports, as part of football, as part of life, as part of life. I’m glad we put ourselves out there. I love our team. We’ll recover, and we’ll be back next year strong.”
On taking the chance on fourth-and-3, thinking about Patrick Mahomes potentially scoring more: “100%. That isn’t probably something normally we’d do, but thought it was the right thing in that situation.”
On getting away from the run game in the third quarter: “I didn’t get away from the run game. You go three and out and you don’t get drives. So, we didn’t get away from it, we just didn’t stay on the field.”
On why the same teams keep winning: “This is my second Super Bowl as a head coach, but I think when you go against guys like Tom Brady and Pat Mahomes, you better never feel comfortable with the lead. And those are two of the best players to ever play the game. That’s why, whether you have a lead or your down points, it’s those guys who are always in it. Watch them all the time, do that stuff.”
On regrets: “No, I mean, yeah, when you go through football, and you watch it as part of our job, and any play that doesn’t work, you always think about that. But in terms of everything that we try to do, we try to prepare as hard as we can. And we try to go in there and do exactly what we think is right based off our preparation, what’s going on in that game, and try to make the…what I can’t live with is when I do stuff that I didn’t plan on doing or that I didn’t do and second guess myself. I’m proud of what we did today as a coaching staff and as players in terms of what we did. We worked and we did everything that we planned on doing. We just didn’t get it done and any play that didn’t work out. Yeah, you always look at that stuff, but that’s how every game is and that’s what we work at.”
On who he hurts for the most: “Yeah, I hurt the most for the players. Those are the guys. I mean, it’s just, it’s such a, I can’t tell you guys how long it takes to get here and just how long the NFL season is. Going through January and all the way into February. So, our guys, I hurt for the most.”
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