5 reasons why 49ers ultimately lost Super Bowl 58 to Chiefs

The 49ers have now lost two Super Bowls to the Chiefs, and this latest defeat carries some reasons that'll be hard to come to terms with.

For the second time in four years, the Kansas City Chiefs have delivered absolute heartbreak to the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl.

In Super Bowl 54, KC overcame a 20-10 deficit to win 31-20. Now, in Super Bowl 58, Kansas City overcame another 10-point deficit and was on the right end of a back-and-forth battle that extended into overtime at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday evening.

The Chiefs ultimately won, pulling off the 25-22 victory that handed the Niners their third Super Bowl loss.

Why?

In peeling back the curtain on reasons why San Francisco suffered such a heartbreaking defeat, here are the reasons we concluded as to why the 49ers lost.

Reason No. 1: Jake Moody's missed extra point

Early in the fourth quarter, the Niners took a lead on a touchdown pass from quarterback Brock Purdy to wide receiver Jauan Jennings that made it 16-13.

An extra point from rookie kicker Jake Moody was all that was needed.

Except Moody struck it low, and Kansas City's special teams blocked the attempt:

The score stayed 16-13, and the Chiefs subsequently connected on a game-tying field goal not long thereafter instead of being forced to go for a touchdown with just under six minutes remaining in regulation.

All other things being equal, Moody making that kick means the game wouldn't have gone to overtime, and San Francisco potentially would have won.

But Moody's miss wasn't the lone reason. Not by a long shot.

Reason No. 2: 49ers offense floundered in 3rd quarter (and on 3rd down)

San Francisco dominated the game over the first half, even though the score didn't quite reflect it.

While the 49ers defense was still executing well enough after halftime, head coach Kyle Shanahan's offense floundered a lot after halftime.

In fact, the Niners were held off the scoreboard in the third quarter entirely, while Kansas City put up 10 unanswered points. Every single one of those made a massive difference.

On top of that, San Francisco went an underwhelming 3-of-12 on third downs, while the Chiefs responded by going 9-of-19 on this crucial down.

That might be a "blow of blows" for the 49ers, except there are more.

Reason No. 3: Dre Greenlaw's injury

As NBC Sports Bay Area's Donte Whitner pointed out on the postgame broadcast, the loss of linebacker Dre Greenlaw to a serious Achilles tear toward the end of the first half was brutal and "played a significant role."

Greenlaw and fellow linebacker Fred Warner were all over the field up to that point, and one of their top assignments was limiting star tight end Travis Kelce, which was happening so far.

Kelce had only the one catch up to that point, but he certainly was a factor after Greenlaw's injury. The Chiefs began targeting the middle of the field with Greenlaw out of the lineup, and Kelce subsequently ended up with a game-high nine catches for 93 yards.

Had Greenlaw stayed in the game, there's an awfully strong possibility that Kelce wouldn't put up that kind of stat line.

And the game's outcome could have been different, too.

Reason No. 4: 49ers didn't involve Christian McCaffrey as much as they should have

Another aspect Donte Whitner pointed out on the postgame show was a question of why the Niners didn't make running back Christian McCaffrey a bigger X-factor during the game, particularly when involving outside-zone rushing schemes.

After all, Kansas City ranked 31st in the NFL defending against that kind of rush play.

McCaffrey was still a force, scoring one of San Francisco's two touchdowns and rushing for 80 yards while also hauling in another 80 yards through the air.

Still, it was tough for the 49ers to get some dominating drives, and the inability to get McCaffrey more touches on the ground in the right situations surely played a role. It also played a huge role in the Niners falling flat in the third quarter, too, which swung momentum back in the Chiefs' favor.

Reason No. 5: Patrick Mahomes is good

On the CBS Sports' postgame broadcast, Phil Simms said "the 49ers didn't lose this game, rather Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs won it."

While that won't make Niners fans feel any better, it's pretty true.

Mahomes, the easy winner of the game's MVP award, did what he has become known for doing on the biggest of stages when it mattered most. Not only was he instrumental in picking apart San Francisco's defense on those game-tying and go-ahead drives in the fourth quarter, but he was also the primary X-factor in overtime, too, which led to that game-winning touchdown pass to running back Mecole Hardman.

While Brock Purdy was good, Mahomes was excellent. In addition to his 333 pass yards and two touchdowns, he also led Kansas City with 66 rush yards, too, and those broke the back of the 49ers defense.

Unfortunately, the Niners have been on the wrong end of NFL greatness. Twice now.

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