Raheem Mostert has some thoughts on the end of Super Bowl LIV.
As you may remember to varying nauseating degrees, the 49ers led the Kansas City Chiefs in Miami 20-10 with 8:33 remaining and 20-17 with 6:06 remaining.
San Francisco went on to lose that game 31-20 as things unraveled late.
On Twitter, Mostert piggybacked off a tweet from his Dolphins teammate Tyreek Hill, responding to a “What is the biggest ‘what if’ story in NFL history?” prompt from Pro Football Focus:
Mostert is suggesting that the 49ers should have run the ball aggressively on those two possessions to start the fourth quarter, which began with 11:57 remaining — not six minutes. Kyle Shanahan’s play calling was too pass heavy, in his opinion.
On that first possession, which began right at the start of the fourth quarter from the San Francisco 20-yard line, the 49ers ran with Mostert on the first play for six yards. They then had a 12-yard completion to George Kittle.
A Mostert run for one yard followed, then an incomplete pass to Deebo Samuel. After that, Joe Staley had a false start, setting up a Jimmy Garoppolo 3-yard scramble on 3rd-and-14. It led to a punt with 8:33 remaining.
That incompletion to Samuel is the only play in that series that could make sense for that criticism, and it came after an unsuccessful, one-yard run by Mostert.
Kansas City went down the field on the following possession for a touchdown to cut the score to 20-17 with 6:06 remaining.
On the next series, the 49ers opened with a 5-yard run by Mostert, then an incomplete pass from Jimmy Garoppolo to Kittle. Garoppolo was incomplete to Kendrick Bourne on third-and-5.
The Chiefs again responded with a touchdown, and the 49ers failed to come back thanks to the infamous Garoppolo overthrow of Emmanuel Sanders.
Mostert’s criticism is essentially criticizing two play calls: the second-and-9 pass attempt to Samuel that was unsuccessful, and the second-and-5 incompletion to Kittle, which came with 5:26 on the clock and the 49ers at their own 25-yard line.
Nothing like bringing up old football wounds on a Monday afternoon in April.
