LAS VEGAS – For a 29th consecutive season, the trophy case in the 49ers’ Santa Clara lobby won’t need to expand for a long-awaited sixth Lombardi Trophy.
The Kansas City Chiefs repeated as Super Bowl champions Sunday night by outlasting the 49ers 25-22 in a thrilling overtime game at Allegiant Stadium.
Patrick Mahomes ruined the 49ers’ Super Bowl hopes for the second time in four years, this time saving his game-winning ways for a touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman with three seconds remaining in overtime. Hardman slipped past nickel back Logan Ryan to get wide open, and as he crossed the goal line, 49ers linebacker Fred Warner tossed his helmet to the ground in dismay.
“We stayed in it as long as we could,” Warner said. “We had an opportunity at the end there, as long as we had a body on Hardman. That’s how it goes sometimes.”
That capped a 75-yard touchdown drive, which followed the 49ers’ consolation field goal on the opening possession of overtime.
“We all hurt, and no one knows how it feels, and I don’t have a lot of words for it, but obviously we’re hurting and our team is hurting,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “But that’s how it goes when you put yourself out there. I’m real proud of our guys, and I have no regrets with my team. I thought the guys played so hard today.”
Down 10-0 in the first half, Mahomes predictably made things harder as the season neared its ultimate end. He passed for 333 yards (34-of-46, two touchdowns, an interception by Ji’Ayir Brown), but it was his 66 rushing yards (nine carries) that finished off the 49ers. Mahomes snuck past Nick Bosa for an 8-yard gain on fourth-and-inches to keep alive the winning drive, and he used his legs on a third-and-1 scramble to reach the 49ers’ 13.
Shanahan didn’t need any reminders a reporter quizzed him anyhow on why he sustained two other Super Bowl losses after also blowing double-digit leads — as the 2016 Atlanta Falcons coordinator, when they lost 34-28 in overtime to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, and four years ago, when Mahomes led the Chiefs past a 20-10 deficit for a 31-20 triumph.
“When you go against guys like Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, you better never feel comfortable with a lead,” Shanahan said. “They’re two of the best that have ever played.”
San Francisco 49ers’ Nick Bosa (97) pressures Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) during third quarter at the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Brock Purdy’s Super Bowl debut saw him pass for 255 yards (23-of-38), his final throw likely stinging the most. On third-and-4 from the Chiefs’ 9-yard line, Purdy had to unload the ball quickly as Chiefs’ defensive star Chris Jones burst through protection, and Purdy’s pass sailed well past an open Jauan Jennings on the right side, where Shanahan noted that Jennings had gotten open as expected. “I don’t think he had time,” Jennings said.
Shanahan said he was not tempted to go for a fourth-down snap, and Purdy supporter the move to “get points, kick a field goal and trust our defense.”
The 49ers scored on the opening possession of overtime, driving 7 ½ minutes for a 27-yard field goal by rookie Jake Moody to take the 22-19 lead. The series series was initially bailed out by a Chiefs’ holding penalty and a Brandon Aiyuk third-down conversion. McCaffrey juked safety Mike Edwards for a 24-yard catch-and-run to set up Moody’s kick.
“I’m so proud of Brock, how he shows up and plays. He had an unbelievable year,” Shanahan said of Purdy, who a year ago was facing elbow surgery after their NFC Championship Game loss in Philadelphia.
Purdy was pensive at Sunday night’s postgame podium, saying of the 49ers’ locker room: “A lot of guys are quiet. Still quiet. Not a lot is being said. It hurts. We had the team to win the whole thing.”
Jennings would have been an appropriate target to score a winning touchdown in overtime. He already accounted for a touchdown pass (second quarter to Christian McCaffrey on a trick play) and a touchdown catch (10-yard, go-ahead score for a 16-13 lead in the fourth quarter).
McCaffrey, having produced 80 yards both rushing and receiving, fumed at his postgame podium over losing his first-series fumble.
“I feel terrible for guys like Trent (Williams), a captain and a leader. It sucks having to look him in the eye,” McCaffrey said.
Nick Bosa echoed that feeling, saying: “I couldn’t really look anybody in the eye. I could have done more. Everybody could have done more. It hurts. It will hit in waves. That’s life.”
The game – and the lead – changed in a stunning two-play sequence just before the fourth quarter.
After a Chiefs punt clanked off 49ers rookie Darrell Luter and Ray-Ray McCloud couldn’t scoop it up, the Chiefs promptly converted that turnover into Mahomes’ 16-yard touchdown pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling (over linebacker Oren Burks). Just like that, it was Kansas City 13, 49ers 10.
Kansas City Chiefs’ Trent McDuffie (22) breaks up a pass intended for San Francisco 49ers’ Deebo Samuel (19) in the second quarter of the Super Bowl at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
The Chiefs pulled within 10-6 on Harrison Butker’s Super Bowl-record 57-yard field goal, five minutes before the fourth quarter. The 49ers forced that Super Bowl-record distance with a third-down stop, which came while a fan ran onto the field and was tackled by security 50 yards behind the play.
Whereas the Chiefs scored off a third-quarter turnover, the 49ers failed to do so, with their offense going 3-and-out after rookie safety Ji’Ayir Brown intercepted Mahomes’ third-down pass just after Usher’s halftime show.
The 49ers retook the lead on Purdy’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Jauan Jennings, who broke two tackles to cross the goal line, two plays after Purdy completed a fourth-and-3 conversion pass to George Kittle. The 49ers’ lead held at 16-13, however, when Moody’s point-after attempt was blocked.
That lead lasted just 5 1/2 minutes, when a big goal-line stand and Hargrave’s third-down sack forced the Chiefs to settle for a 24-yard field goal, tying the score at 16 with 5:46 left in regulation.
Moody snapped a 16-16 tie on his 53-yard field goal with 1:53 remaining, a pressure-packed kick that followed him getting a point-after attempt blocked earlier in the quarter. Purdy took the 49ers down the field with key passes to Jennings and Deebo Samuel, but a third-down pass fell incomplete just after the two-minute warning, summoning Moody for his kick – and Mahomes for his answer.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) celebrates their Super Bowl win over the 49ers in overtime at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Mahomes, predictably, led the Chiefs downfield for a score, but it was merely a 29-yard field goal to tie with three seconds left in regulation. The Chiefs were in position for a winning touchdown, thanks to Travis Kelce racing past Warner for a 23-yard gain to the 11, with 10 seconds left. Warner responded by blanketing Kelce to prevent a Mahomes’ touchdown pass at the front left corner.
“That’s probably the most disappointing thing about the loss,” Warner said. “We went into it saying he wasn’t going to be the reason they beat us. We just were off on a couple of plays at the end, where he’s running wide open across the middle of the field.”
It was only the second Super Bowl to reach overtime, the first being seven years ago, when the Falcons blew a 25-point lead to the Patriots in Kyle Shanahan’s finale as their offensive coordinator before he was hired as 49ers coach.
The 49ers dominated the first half, but it took a bit of trickery in Sin City to come up with the game’s first touchdown, a 21-yard touchdown pass from Jennings to McCaffrey 4:23 before halftime, for a 10-0 lead.
Jennings, the 49ers’ No. 3 receiver and third-down specialist, caught a backward pass from Purdy, then, channeling his Tennessee high school quarterback days, threw across the field to McCaffrey, who dashed untouched to the end zone thanks to blocks by linemen Aaron Banks, Spencer Burford and Colton McKivitz.
San Francisco 49ers’ Arik Armstead (91) sacks Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) in the second quarter of the Super Bowl at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
The 49ers defense came through in the clutch throughout the first half, including Arik Armstead’s biggest sack of his nine-year career. Armstead pancaked Mahomes on third-and-5 from the 49ers’ 9-yard line, forcing the Chiefs to settle for a Butker field goal that snapped the shutout bid but reduced the 49ers’ lead to just 10-3 with 20 seconds until halftime. Another huge play inside the 10-yard line came earlier in the second quarter: Deommodore Lenoir stripped the ball from Isiah Pacheco (with an assist from Chase Young), and Javon Hargrave recovered at the 8-yard line. On the previous play, Hardman beat the 49ers’ safeties for a 53-yard reception.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid said of the halftime message: “When you’re in the Super Bowl and down 7 points, it feels like 20. You have to calm it down, we’re right there, we’re getting the ball to start the second half, and everybody just hang with each other because good things can happen.”
A bizarre Achilles tear forced linebacker Dre Greenlaw to the 49ers’ locker room before halftime. Greenlaw injured his left leg as he slipped coming off the sideline to start a defensive series. Warner said Greenlaw had been playing through an Achilles issue the past few weeks.
San Francisco 49ers’ Jake Moody (4) kicks a 46-yard field goal in the second quarter of the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
The 49ers took a 3-0 lead on Moody’s then-Super Bowl-record 55-yard field goal 12 seconds into the second quarter. Purdy opened up the second quarter with a potential deep third-down touchdown throw to Samuel, but Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie batted the pass away in the end zone. Moody’s field goal came on the next play.
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The 49ers’ defense dominated the first quarter, highlighted in the second series with a Young sack and then Randy Gregory’s third-and-15 stop of a Mahomes’ scramble. (Reminder: In their Super Bowl four years ago, Mahomes converted a third-and-15 pass for 44 yards to Tyreek Hill to key their comeback.)
After winning their first five trips to the Super Bowl, the 49ers now must mourn a third consecutive losing appearance.
“We’ve been so close so many times,” Bosa said, “there’s only so many more opportunities we have with an amazing core of players that will be back.”
“It’ll take some time, but we’ll get over this, and we’ll come back next year ready to go,” Shanahan said.
Shanahan became only the third head coach to lose his first two Super Bowl appearances, joining Don Shula and John Fox. Shula won back-to-back titles promptly after his second loss, and finished 2-4 in Super Bowl action; Fox went 0-2.
With a star-laden roster and a young quarterback in Purdy, Shanahan may have yet another shot down the line to follow the Super Bowl-winning lead of his father, Mike, won back-to-back crowns with the 1997 and ’98 Denver Broncos in his two Super Bowls as a head coach.
Purdy was the third-youngest quarterback to start a Super Bowl (24 years, 46 days). He did so to seal his first full season as the 49ers’ starter, only a year after tearing the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow in last year’s NFC Championship Game loss at Philadelphia.
Purdy is the 22nd quarterback to start for the 49ers since Steve Young led them to their most recent championship, when the 1994 all-stars posted a 49-26 blowout of the Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX.
“The way things have been the last couple of years here, everyone wanted it so bad,” Purdy said. “So, I think we’re still trying to sort of gather our thoughts and everything right now. But everyone in that locker room loves each other, I’ll tell you that.”
49ers’ Brock Purdy (13) is tackled by Chiefs’ Leo Chenal (54) during the Super Bowl at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
