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5 reasons why 49ers lost Super Bowl 54 vs Chiefs

By Nathan Bannerman

MIAMI, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 02: Deebo Samuel #19 of the San Francisco 49ers runs the ball in the first quarter of Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium on February 02, 2020 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 02: Deebo Samuel #19 of the San Francisco 49ers runs the ball in the first quarter of Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium on February 02, 2020 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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49ers Kyle Shanahan
Head coach Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

No. 2: For most of the year, the 49ers ran the ball. In the biggest game of them all, they didn’t run as much. They tried to get fancy when things seemed to be going well.

You know the old saying: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The meaning behind it is simple: no need to fix something that is working. A lot of us are trying to figure out why the 49ers tried fixing something which was working perfectly fine.

Between the NFC Divisional Round and NFC Championship, head coach Kyle Shanahan ran the ball more than 20 times in each game. It was clearly successful, and many figured he would continue doing the same in Super Bowl 54.

Before I continue, please note that this is not a “hate on Kyle Shanahan” post. This is just pointing out, in the heat of the game, what worked and what didn’t.

Shanahan is one of the best coaches in football and we’re extremely lucky to have him on our sideline.

The 49ers were quite successful against the Chiefs when they forced the play to the sidelines. This Niners team has a lot of speed. They used the speed of wide receiver Deebo Samuel to get to the outside and turn it up field.

Here’s his big run early in the first quarter to get things started:

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1224117276519124993

As the game drew on, the Chiefs were able to start sealing up the outside runs, almost daring the Niners to run it up the middle.

In recent games, the best running back to pick up big yards was Raheem Mostert. He got the majority of hand-offs in the NFC Championship Game against the Green Bay Packers, when Tevin Coleman went down.

But for some reason, when the 49ers had a chance to run some significant time off the clock, they didn’t. Now, I understand trying to change plays up to keep the defense guessing. But when the run game is gaining traction, there really isn’t a reason to stop.

We have to give credit to KC. Their run defense got better as the season progressed. They even held the NFL rushing leader Derrick Henry in check in the AFC Championship.

However, the question that will forever linger is: “Why didn’t San Francisco keep running the ball?”