Kyle Shanahan's play-calling in Super Bowl LIV on Sunday prompted plenty of questions on the Monday morning sports-talk circuit.
The 49ers coach called just five running plays in the fourth quarter of San Francisco's 31-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, as the Niners blew a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter. On ESPN's "Get Up," analyst Dan Orlovsky was a lone dissenter on set defending Shanahan's fourth-quarter play-calling.
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"Who's on the other sideline playing quarterback?" Orlovsky asked host Mike Greenberg and fellow analysts Bart Scott and Marcus Spears, referring to Super Bowl LIV MVP Patrick Mahomes. "The worst thing that you can do is go 'Run, run, pass' in that situation. ... You don't think Kansas City's thinking run? Why do you think the play action was wide-open?"
Scott and Spears argued that passing so much functionally gave Mahomes plenty of time to orchestrate a comeback after the 49ers punted for only the second time with just over five minutes remaining in regulation. Chiefs coach Andy Reid didn't have to use any of his timeouts on Kansas City's defensive stand, nor on their go-ahead drive.
Considering the latter, it's probable that the Chiefs would have had a similar amount of time left if they had forced a three-and-out after a series of two runs and a pass.
The 49ers had success running the ball up to that point, and Spears and Scott felt they would've done so again late in the fourth quarter. Orlovsky pointed to most of the 49ers' rushing gains coming on chunk plays, particularly on Deebo Samuel's carries, which he felt wouldn't have guaranteed San Francisco's rushing attack getting it done down the stretch.
San Francisco 49ers
"I think Kyle was being aggressive, and they gotta make a play," Orlovsky said.
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There will be nearly seven months' worth of time to play Monday Morning Quarterback Offensive Play-Caller and second-guess Shanahan's decision-making in the 49ers' season-ending loss.
If the day after the Super Bowl is any indication, opinions echoing Orlovsky are going to be hard to find this offseason.