Kyle Shanahan is happy to see his friend, Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, headed to the Super Bowl. There was, however, some controversy on how the Southern California team earned a birth to the league's championship game.

It looked like Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman would draw a pass interference penalty on a third-and-10 play from Los Angeles' 13-yard line. He was going against New Orleans Saints wide receiver Tommylee Lewis in the closing minutes of the NFC Championship Game.



Much to the surprise of the Saints and fans across the country, the penalty never came.

"What I saw was what everyone else saw," said Mike Pereira, who once served as the league's vice president of officiating before becoming a rules analyst for FOX. "It was just a flat-out whiff on the officiating side."

Saints head coach Sean Payton told reporters after the game that the league called him and confirmed that the officials missed the call. Of course, none of that mattered at that point. The call likely cost Payton and his team a trip to Atlanta, Georgia for Super Bowl 53.

Shanahan is in Mobile, Alabama this week as the San Francisco 49ers staff prepares to coach the South squad in the Senior Bowl, which kicks off on Saturday. He was asked about the now infamous no-call from Sunday's action.

"I think it's the same thing everyone else thought," Shanahan told reporters. "It was obviously pass interference, but they missed it, and that happens a lot. You get used to it as a coach and you just kind of got to deal with it sometimes."


While the NFL deals with the repercussions of the in-game faux pas, including a lawsuit, Shanahan was asked what can be done to prevent similar mistakes in the future.

"I'd like to see, when things are obvious, and everyone in the world knows, that you do whatever it takes to get it right," Shanahan responded.

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