Amidst all the talk of how the Kansas City Chiefs are now a dynasty after winning Sunday’s Super Bowl over the San Francisco 49ers, is the fact that the 49ers’ mistakes throughout the game gave the Chiefs the game.
San Francisco has been here before, easily one of the best teams in the NFL over the past five years. But it never got this close to a title. Looking back, the 49ers will dwell for quite some time for a handful of mistakes that led to a Kansas City comeback victory.
San Francisco may not get this close again after falling to the Chiefs in the final seconds of overtime, 25-22.
The 49ers had it from the start — or so they thought.
They had the Chiefs where they wanted them twice at the end of the game. Then came the mistakes. Even so, San Francisco led until the final seconds.
After the game, the 49ers were able to point out what went wrong in this game. Christian McCaffrey, who had 160 total yards, lost a first quarter fumble when it looked like the 49ers were on their way to a touchdown on their opening drive. Quarterback Brock Purdy, who threw for 255 yards and a touchdown, opened the second half with three three-and-outs in the third quarter when the Chiefs were putting up 10 points to erase San Francisco’s 10-3 halftime lead.
The biggest miscue also came in the third quarter. It came when a Chiefs punt ricocheted off the leg of 49ers cornerback Darrell Luter, forcing punt returner Ray-Ray McLoud to try to make a play on what should have been a dead ball. He couldn’t and the Chiefs recovered at the San Francisco 16. One play later, KC quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw a scoring pass that put Kansas City up 13-10.
Another special teams mistake, a missed extra point by kicker Jake Moody, ended up being a huge play. It became a very big deal at the end of regulation when the 49ers were left protecting a 19-16 lead.
Mahomes took over from there. In the final 1:53 of regulation and during the Chiefs’ lone drive of overtime, Mahomes woke up and went 13-for-16 for 101 yards and a touchdown. He also beat the 49ers with his legs, rushing twice for 27 yards on the game-winning drive that ended with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman.
It was there for the taking. The 49ers just did not take it.
