The San Francisco 49ers have been oh so close to Super Bowl victories twice in the 21st century with their last win coming in the 1994 season.
Their 2012 run came closer to snapping their Super Bowl dry spell with future Hall of Fame running back Frank Gore leading the charge in Super Bowl XLVII against the Baltimore Ravens. Trailing 34-29 with just under 4:30 left in the game, the 49ers had a chance to score the go-ahead touchdown. Gore, who led all players that night with 110 rushing yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, barreled San Francisco down near the end zone, setting up a first-and-goal at the 7-yard line with 2:47 left to play.
Four plays came and went without Gore touching the ball again as his backup LaMichael James had a 2-yard carry followed by three consecutive incompletions by quarterback Colin Kaepernick. San Francisco came up 5 yards short. The Ravens prevailed 34-31 after taking a safety as a mechanism to burn time off the clock.
In 2019, against their current opponent the Kansas City Chiefs, they led 20-10 entering the final quarter, but the Chiefs outscored them 21-0 to secure the win in Super LIV.
Here are their three key reasons why the 49ers can come out on top in the big game for a change.
3. Kyle Shanahan’s improved game management
The 49ers head coach is clearly an offensive savant. In the Super Bowl era, since 1966, Shanahan’s offenses average the most yards per play (5.9) and yards per pass attempt (8.1) of any head coach, minimum 100 games as a head coach.
However, his game management for the vast majority of his tenure leading San Francisco since 2017 has been somewhat questionable. Entering this postseason, the 49ers were 0-31 down five or more points entering the fourth quarter. That was a situation they faced against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC divisional round, and they came back to win 24-21. They were also 0-19 down 17 or more points in the second half entering this postseason. The 49ers overcame that margin to win the NFC title game against the Detroit Lions 34-31.
Now he has just one more hurdle to overcome: his game management in the Super Bowl. Shanahan has made the big game twice, once as the offensive coordinator of the 2016 Atlanta Falcons and as the head coach of the 2019 49ers. Those teams combined to score ZERO points in the fourth quarter and/or overtime of those two games while their opponents…
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