The questions about that 2017 Super Bowl collapse just kept coming for San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. He politely endured them all and answered them honestly.
What will it be like now that the coach has suffered a second Super Bowl collapse?
Social media has not been kind, with many wondering if Shanahan's genius has been exaggerated. Colin Cowherd of FS1 doesn't believe Super Bowl LIV's loss falls entirely on Shanahan's shoulders, though, and points out two plays that, had they gone the coach's way, would have altered the game's storyline.
Maybe it would have been Shanahan hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy with the redemption story and not Andy Reid.
Cowherd called the negative narrative surrounding Shanahan after the loss "ridiculous" before identifying the two plays that show the coach's brilliance but didn't go his way.
"Folks, it's Monday. People overreact," Cowherd said on The Herd. "There were two plays in this game that one of them, they didn't get an officiating break. It's a go-either-way play they didn't get in a break. And the other one, he called the right play, and the quarterback didn't land the punch."
That first play is the controversial penalty called on tight end George Kittle at the end of the first half, negating a catch that would have gotten the 49ers offense into field-goal range. Cowherd doesn't argue that it was a bad penalty. He believes it was the correct call. He just argues that it's more likely to get called on a tight end than a wide receiver.
Is that fair? Probably not. But the play call itself is what Cowherd liked.
The other was the deep pass to a wide-open Emmanuel Sanders, which was overthrown by quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. Again, a good play call by Shanahan, said Cowherd.
"That ball is caught, Jimmy G today is the MVP, and we're talking about Kyle Shanahan beat Andy Reid," Cowherd speculated.
Cowherd adds: "Shanahan is the best young coach in football. He doesn't get an officiating break (at) the end of the first half. Jimmy doesn't softly land that loaf of bread into Emmanuel Sanders."
You can watch Cowherd discuss Shanahan below. It begins at about the 4:45 mark.
