San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa (#97) pursued Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (#15) during Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday FEB 11, 2024. (Terrell Lloyd-San Francisco 49ers)
by Marko Ukalovic
The quest for six will have to wait another year for the San Francisco 49ers.
Patrick Mahomes threw a three-yard touchdown reception to Mecole Hardman with six seconds remaining in overtime to complete a comeback 25-22 victory for the Kansas City Chiefs to win Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday evening at Allegiant Stadium.
Kansas City has won three Super Bowls in the past five years and becomes the seventh team to win back-to-back titles and the first time it’s been done in the past 20 years when the New England Patriots did in 2004 and 2005. San Francisco has lost its second Super Bowl to the Chiefs in the past five years.
San Francisco is left heartbroken and wondering what if during the game in which the jumped out to a 10-0 lead against Kansas City.
A scoreless first quarter and low scoring first half featured fumble losses by both teams. On the 49ers first possession, in which they were driving down the field, running back Christian McCaffery was stripped of the ball Leo Chanel running off tackle. George Karlaftis recovered the ball at the Kansas City 27-yard line.
The 49ers defense kept Kansas City’s offense in check as they pressured Mahomes and didn’t allow him to establish a rhythm early in the game. San Francisco finally broke the deadlock early in the second quarter when rookie kicker Jake Moody kicked a then Super Bowl record 55-yard field 12 seconds into the quarter.
After a 52-yard reception by Hardman to set up the Chiefs at the 49ers nine-yard line, Chiefs running back Isaiah Pacheco had the ball stripped away from him on the next play by Deommodore Lenoir that was recovered by Javon Hargrave.
San Francisco scored the game’s first touchdown late in the first half on a trick play from head coach Kyle Shanahan’s playbook. Jauan Jennings received a pitch out to the left from quarterback Brock Purdy. Jennings then threw the ball back to the right to an open McCaffery who raced in all alone for a 21-yard touchdown reception.
Kansas City drove down the field on its final possession of the first half on a 13 play 65-yard drive that ended with a 28-yard field goal by kicker Harrison Butker with 20 second left before halftime.
San Francisco’s defense started the second half with its second turnover of the game. On a 3rd and 12 from their own 23-yard line, Mahomes was intercepted by Ji’Ayir Brown at the 44-yard line. However, the 49ers offense went three and out they weren’t able to take advantage of the interception.
Butker made it a 10-6 deficit when he kicked a Super Bowl record 57-yard field goal with 5:03 left in the third quarter.
The 49ers offense was scuffled with three consecutive three and outs as the Chiefs defense started pressuring Purdy and forcing incomplete passes as Shanahan drifted away from the run game in the third quarter.
“I hurt the most for the players I can’t tell you guys how long it takes to get here & how long it takes to get through an NFL season. Our guys I hurt for the most,” Shanahan said.
The momentum of the game turned in Kansas City’s favor when a Tommy Townsend punt went off the heel of Darrell Luter Jr. Punt returner Ray Ray McCloud attempted to pick up the loose ball, but it was recovered by Jaylen Watson at the 49ers 16-yard line.
Mahomes needed just one play to find a wide-open Marquez Valdez-Scantling for a 16-yard touchdown reception to give the Chiefs its first lead of the game 13-10 with 2:28 left in the third quarter.
“If you go and look at the self-inflicted wounds we had, we just beat ourselves,” McCaffery said.
San Francisco answered back on its next drive. Purdy marched the 49ers down the field on a 12 play 75-yard scoring drive that ate up 6:06 off the clock. Purdy connected with Jennings on a slant route where he broke one tackle and went into the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown reception. However, Moody’s extra point attempt was blocked by Chanel which proved huge down the stretch.
The 49ers kept that drive alive by going for it on 4th and 3 from the 15-yard line when Purdy found tight end George Kittle for his first reception of the game, a four-yard reception to the right sideline.
Kansas City tied the score with Butker’s third field goal, a 24-yarder with 5:46 remaining in the fourth quarter. The 49ers then marched down and regained the lead with Moody’s second 50-plus yard field goal, this time from 53 yards with 1:53 remaining in regulation.
That gave Mahomes and company enough to march down the field and have Butker once again tie the game with his fourth field goal of the game, a 29-yarder with three second left in regulation to force only the second Super Bowl ever to go into overtime.
In the overtime session, San Francisco won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball. Purdy marched them down the field on a methodical 13 play, 66-yard drive that was finished off with a 27-yard field goal by Moody.
“That’s what hurt me… Mahomes is really good and you just don’t want to give them an opportunity to go down & win the game off a touchdown. When I wasn’t able to connect with him (Jennings) it hurt,” Purdy said.
The overtime rules had changed this season in that even if the team who had won the coin toss had scored a touchdown on its possession, the other team would still have received a possession to match before the sudden death rules applied.
At the end the Niners defense which had played its best game of the playoffs ran out of gas as it could not stop the Chiefs offense from scoring the game winning touchdown drive that was 13 plays and 75 yards led by Mahomes.
“They (the defense) played really well, when they needed to play well. (They) gave us plenty of opportunities and we didn’t take advantage of them,” Kittle said on his team’s offensive struggles.
Mahomes, who won his third Super Bowl MVP award, finished the game 34 of 46 for 333 yards with two touchdowns and one interception and was sacked three times. He also led the Chiefs in rushing with 66 yards on nine carries. Pacheco chipped in 59 yards on the ground on 18 carries. Travis Kelce, who only had one reception for one yard in the first half, led all receivers with nine catches for 90 yards.
Purdy finished his first Super Bowl start going 23/38 for 255 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions and was sacked once but was pressured most of the second half by Kansas City’s blitz package. McCaffery led the 49ers in both rushing and receiving with 160 all-purpose yards. He had 80 yards rushing on 22 carries and eight receptions for 80 yards.
Deebo Samuel who had injured a hamstring in the second half was limited to just three catches for 33 yards. Kittle was mainly invisible during the game with only two catches for four yards. Jennings chipped in four catches for 42 yards to go along with his touchdown.
Lineback Dre Greenlaw suffered an Achilles injury in the second quarter when he was about to take the field on defense and never returned to the game.
GAME NOTES: San Francisco finished 3-for-12 on third down conversions. Kansas City went 9-for-19.
Jennings became the second player in Super Bowl history (joining Nick Fowles) to throw for a touchdown reception and record a receiving reception in a Super Bowl.
Kansas City had its eight-game playoff streak of scoring on its opening possession snapped when they went three and out on its opening possession.
Former Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders players Jim Plunkett, Fred Biletnikoff and Marcus Allen, all ex Super Bowl MVP’s, lit the Al Davis Memorial Torch before the game.
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