Kyle Shanahan didn’t get too sentimental when recalling the 49ers’ run to the Super Bowl during the 2020 NFL playoffs.
Shanahan was asked about Super Bowl 54 at a news conference on Wednesday ahead of San Francisco’s first matchup with the Chiefs since that contest. What does the 49ers coach remember the most about the game?
“That we lost,” he said bluntly, per Pro Football Talk.
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Indeed, the Chiefs defeated the 49ers in Super Bowl 54, but San Francisco had plenty of chances to win the contest. It entered the fourth quarter with a 20-10 lead and led for most of the final period.
However, Kansas City managed to score 21 unanswered points in the final 6:13 of the game. That flipped the script and gave the Chiefs a 31-20 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish, cementing the first Super Bowl titles for Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes.
For Shanahan, memories of that Super Bowl are painful. Still, he had to relive them as the two teams meet for the first time since that contest.
“I hadn’t watched it for a while until these last two days,” Shanahan said of Super Bowl 54. “I don’t like watching it, but this week it wasn’t about that. I had to watch it for schematic reasons and what our history is together.”
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Naturally, Shanahan noticed differences between that Chiefs team and the one his 49ers are playing on Sunday. He noted that Mahomes has “more experience” and continues to be “unbelievable,” as he was when the two teams met nearly three years ago.
He also observed that the absence of Tyreek Hill isn’t having as much of an impact on the Chiefs as some expected it would.
“They’re missing the fastest guy on the planet, to me, but they have a lot of players all over and the quarterback spreads it around and they’re still just as effective,” Shanahan said.
As such, Shanahan knows that the Chiefs (4-2) will be a tough test for the 49ers (3-3). That’s part of why he was willing to go back and watch the Super Bowl 54 tape — to ensure that he is prepared as well as possible for the contest.
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And while it isn’t easy for Shanahan to rewatch that game, especially the ending, it still does bring back some fond memories for him.
“I love thinking of our team that year,” he said. “I felt like that year we had the best team in football, but we ended up being the second best because we didn’t get it done in the end.”
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