It's easy to blame the coach, but the Niners' players fell apart out there. Shanahan probably should have tried running the ball a few more times when they needed first downs, but it's not like he made some crazy boneheaded calls. He prepared his team and he made a ton of great calls on offense. The Niners' defense just got worn down at the end, and the Chiefs' offense exploited that. Jimmy Garoppolo is not good enough to get into a shootout with Patrick Maholmes no matter who is coaching.
While the seahawks super bowl win was technically played in 2014, it was part of the 2013 season, and they are usually referred to as the 2013 champions (they actually beat Manning in the Super Bowl the same year he had all those crazy stats listed for 2013). Same thing with the next year
Why is Tebowing the 2009 question? Tim Tebow was still in college that year, and he didn't start an NFL game until December 2010; it would be a much better fit for 2011.
The Seahawks lose the Super Bowl after NOT handing the ball off to this star runnning back.
*Sigh*
Ah, but Seattle DID hand the ball off to Marshawn Lynch. They did it on 1st down. And he got stopped short of the goal line. All this nonsense about how not handing the ball to him again cost Seattle a sure victory is nuts.
In 2014, Lynch failed to score from the 1-yard line 80% of the time. New England was in the "jumbo" package on 2nd down, meaning they were keying specifically on stopping Lynch. There were 26 seconds left and Seattle had only 1 timeout. Calling a pass play on 2nd down was the correct decision by Pete Carroll, as that would afford them 3 attempts at winning the game (where New England had no idea whether Seattle would run or pass), instead of only 2.
Russell Wilson also had the 3rd-lowest interception rate in NFL history. Pete Carroll was aware of all of this. Empty-headed fanboys were not.
Carroll's decision to throw on 2nd down and not hand the ball off again to Lynch was the correct call, despite Cris Collinsworth's emotional reaction after the play as the color commentator in the booth.
Yelling, "Yeah but....BEASTMODE!" doesn't change the odds that Seattle faced on 2nd down. Again, that's a fanboy reaction. There's a reason fanboys aren't NFL coaches.
There is ZERO guarantee that Lynch would've scored against the Patriots' jumbo package. In fact, the odds were against it. Carroll understood that. On 2nd down, handing the ball to Lynch would've been the wrong call. Carroll would probably have given Lynch a shot on 3rd down, however. And if Lynch didn't score, would've called Seattle's final timeout, and then the entire playbook would've been open for the final play.
Every offensive play ever run in NFL history had a chance of resulting in a turnover. Coaches try to mitigate the risk, and play the percentages to to give their team....
...the best posible chance to succeed. That is exactly what Carroll did, and did correctly. Just because a play doesn't work doesn't mean it was not a good or correct call.
In the 2006 playoffs, trailing by 1 point with seconds remaining vs Seattle, the Cowboys decided to attempt a chip-shot FG to win the game. Tony Romo mishandled the snap and Dallas failed to convert the FG and wound up losing, 21-20. Was it the wrong call to attempt the FG? Of course not, because it was the odds-on play. Muuuuuch better odds than trying to score a TD or even to pick up a 1st down inside the 5-yard line. Romo simply made a physical mistake.
Same thing with Seattle vs New England in Super Bowl XLIX. Carroll played the odds. But CB Malcolm Butler had simply been coached-up to defend the exact play that Seattle called and made a Super Bowl-winning play.
Sometimes offensive players make mistakes executing the play. (see Jackie Smith's dropped TD pass for Dallas in SB XIII; or ...
...or Scott Norwoods missed FG for Buffalo in SB XXV) Sometimes defensive players step up and do something amazing to stop the play. And sometimes those amazing efforts win games. And on occasion, those amazing efforts even win Super Bowls.
Pete Carroll's forgotten more about football than any "fan" will ever know. He correctly assessed the odds and made a play call that simply didn't work out. Seattle didn't pass up some sure-fire touchdown. Bill Belichick simply demonstrated that, once again, he's usually the smartest guy in the room, and coached-up a rookie CB to make the play of his life.
*Sigh*
Ah, but Seattle DID hand the ball off to Marshawn Lynch. They did it on 1st down. And he got stopped short of the goal line. All this nonsense about how not handing the ball to him again cost Seattle a sure victory is nuts.
In 2014, Lynch failed to score from the 1-yard line 80% of the time. New England was in the "jumbo" package on 2nd down, meaning they were keying specifically on stopping Lynch. There were 26 seconds left and Seattle had only 1 timeout. Calling a pass play on 2nd down was the correct decision by Pete Carroll, as that would afford them 3 attempts at winning the game (where New England had no idea whether Seattle would run or pass), instead of only 2.
Russell Wilson also had the 3rd-lowest interception rate in NFL history. Pete Carroll was aware of all of this. Empty-headed fanboys were not.
Yelling, "Yeah but....BEASTMODE!" doesn't change the odds that Seattle faced on 2nd down. Again, that's a fanboy reaction. There's a reason fanboys aren't NFL coaches.
There is ZERO guarantee that Lynch would've scored against the Patriots' jumbo package. In fact, the odds were against it. Carroll understood that. On 2nd down, handing the ball to Lynch would've been the wrong call. Carroll would probably have given Lynch a shot on 3rd down, however. And if Lynch didn't score, would've called Seattle's final timeout, and then the entire playbook would've been open for the final play.
Every offensive play ever run in NFL history had a chance of resulting in a turnover. Coaches try to mitigate the risk, and play the percentages to to give their team....
In the 2006 playoffs, trailing by 1 point with seconds remaining vs Seattle, the Cowboys decided to attempt a chip-shot FG to win the game. Tony Romo mishandled the snap and Dallas failed to convert the FG and wound up losing, 21-20. Was it the wrong call to attempt the FG? Of course not, because it was the odds-on play. Muuuuuch better odds than trying to score a TD or even to pick up a 1st down inside the 5-yard line. Romo simply made a physical mistake.
Same thing with Seattle vs New England in Super Bowl XLIX. Carroll played the odds. But CB Malcolm Butler had simply been coached-up to defend the exact play that Seattle called and made a Super Bowl-winning play.
Sometimes offensive players make mistakes executing the play. (see Jackie Smith's dropped TD pass for Dallas in SB XIII; or ...
Pete Carroll's forgotten more about football than any "fan" will ever know. He correctly assessed the odds and made a play call that simply didn't work out. Seattle didn't pass up some sure-fire touchdown. Bill Belichick simply demonstrated that, once again, he's usually the smartest guy in the room, and coached-up a rookie CB to make the play of his life.
Or Falcons fan for Super Bowl 51?
Clearly the answer is Bills fan from 1991-1994