San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan informed reporters after Sunday's defeat by the Los Angeles Chargers that he is not God — you know, in case anyone in the room at the StubHub Center was wondering.
Shanahan actually made the statement while discussing injuries but it also makes it a safe bet that he can't foresee the future. The head coach came under fire for his play calling and in-game management at the end of the first half during the 29-27 loss.
Note that the 49ers lost the game by just two points. Now, continue.
The Chargers had just scored and hit on a two-point conversion to come with three points of the 49ers, who had led 17-6. 47 seconds remained in the half when kicker Caleb Sturgis kicked the football into the end zone for a touchback and placed the 49ers offense at the 20-yard line.
The 49ers went three-and-out on the ensuing series but ate up just 17 seconds of play clock while doing so. Shanahan called three pass plays, only one of which was successful. Bradley Pinion's punt on fourth down with 30 seconds remaining was returned 56 yards by Desmond King.
The Chargers took over with 13 seconds remaining before halftime and two plays later, Sturgis was setting up for a game-tying field goal, which he made.
I appreciate the #49ers being aggressive on the road with two timeouts before halftime. But with 47 seconds left and starting off on offense in Q3, the smart call would have been to run the clock out and take the 17-14 lead into halftime. #SFvsLAC #49wz
— Peter Panacy (@PeterPanacy) September 30, 2018
The #49ers aren't ready to contend right now but it's really concerning that Kyle Shanahan keeps botching late half drives by trying to throw the ball instead of doing the smart thing and running the clock out. This happened against Detroit. Happened again today. #49wz
— Zain N. (@zain49ers) September 30, 2018
No one could have predicted the Chargers to return the punt 56 yards — except maybe God — who, as noted on Sunday, is not Shanahan. It's easy to look back after the fact and say the 49ers should have done this or that. For many, of course, it is also easy to say a banged-up San Francisco should have played it safe while on the road with a second-year quarterback, run the clock down, and headed into halftime with the lead. After all, the 49ers received the ball first at the start of the second half.
It's easy to say that as you are watching King embarrass the 49ers' coverage team during the punt return.
Some comparisons were immediately made after the game to Super Bowl 51, which saw Shanahan — then an offensive coordinator — and the Atlanta Falcons squander a 25-point lead over the New England Patriots. Rather than eat time off the clock, Shanahan remained aggressive in his play calling, which eventually cost Atlanta the win. Of course, the defense giving up 31-straight points probably didn't help.
Was Shanahan overly aggressive at the end of the first half against the Chargers? He doesn't think so. In fact, if Shanahan had to do it all over again, he would still try to score. The 49ers took their shot and were giving the Chargers fewer than 30 seconds when Pinion was setting up to punt the ball away. The risk seemed low. It just didn't turn out the way Shanahan had hoped.
"You go back and when you talk about game management, is my goal to just manage the game or to try to do what I think is best to win the game?" Shanahan asked reporters on Monday. "You get the ball with I believe it was 50-something seconds; we were up 17-14. I felt confident trying to go score.
"I don't think we were doing anything ridiculous. We ran three normal plays. First down, we had an incompletion. Second down, we threw a five-yard hitch to Breida who ran out of bounds, stopped the clock, got us to third-and-three. We had a man play and our back going across, Breida, got picked by the D-line and we didn't get it, had another incompletion.
"I know how big of a deal three-and-out is, I did. You realize you put the defense in a bad situation there. If you know that's going to happen, I'd rather just take a knee and hope that we made it easier. I also know that if I had to do it over again, I'm going to try that. At 17-14, I think we need to score some points in this game, and I think we have an opportunity to do it there. Unfortunately, we didn't get the first down. So, when that happens, you've got to punt.
"I did feel pretty good punting the ball with 30-seconds and them catching it at their own 12. I thought it would be very hard for them to go score. I wish the offense didn't put the special teams or defense in that situation, but we did, and now it was up to our special teams to not give up a 60-yard punt return, which they did, which really hurt us. Then, I was happy that our defense at least kept them to a field goal."