Travis Kelce: 49ers Handed Chiefs the Advantage by Taking Ball First in Super Bowl OT

We know which side of the argument Travis Kelce stands on regarding the decision to take possession or kickoff at the start of overtime in the Super Bowl.

On the latest episode of the New Heights podcast, presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment, Kelce said the San Francisco 49ers "handed" the overtime advantage over to the Kansas City Chiefs by electing to receive the ball after winning the coin toss (starts at 47:45 mark).

San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan explained after the game the postseason overtime rules are such that they wanted the opportunity to win in a sudden-death scenario if both teams matched scores on the first two possessions:

"It's just something we talked about. None of us have a ton of experience with it. But we went through all the analytics and talked to those guys. We just thought it would be better. We wanted the ball third. If both teams matched and scored, we wanted to be the ones who had the chance to go win. Got that field goal, so knew we had to hold them to at least a field goal, and if we did, then we thought it was in our hands after that."

The 49ers drove down the field after getting the opening kickoff, but the drive stalled at the Chiefs' nine-yard line. They settled for a field goal to take a 22-19 lead.

Kansas City, knowing it had to at least get a field goal to keep the game going, went for it on 4th-and-1 from its own 34-yard line that Patrick Mahomes converted with an eight-yard run.

It's plausible the Chiefs might have elected to punt in that scenario if they had the first possession because of how deep in their own territory they were. They won the game at the end of that drive on Mahomes' three-yard touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman.

There have been arguments made for and against the decision Shanahan made, which only proves no one has any idea what the right decision is.

It's with the benefit of hindsight that anyone can say Shanahan made the wrong decision, but if the 49ers stop Mahomes on that fourth-down play, no one cares.

This was also the first time a playoff game has gone to overtime since the NFL adjusted the rules to give both teams a possession. There was no in-game information to determine what the best strategy is.

Shanahan did what he thought was right, and it wound up not working out.