George Kittle Says 'S--t, It Was Brutal' Watching Kyle Shanahan After 49ers Loss

Many in the San Francisco 49ers locker room took their Super Bowl LIV loss hard, but perhaps no one harder than coach Kyle Shanahan, whose play-calling was subject to ridicule for the second time in the last four Super Bowls. 

"S--t, it was brutal. I don't know how to describe it," 49ers tight end George Kittle said of Shanahan, per Michael Silver of NFL.com. "It just sucked. Kyle was great, though. That's one thing I do like about Kyle is, he keeps it real, all the time. I love playing for him."

Shanahan took flak for his conservatism at the end of the first half, when he was seemingly happy going into the locker room tied at 10-10 rather than attempting to score before halftime, and for continuing to throw the ball up two scores down late in the fourth quarter. 

The Chiefs scored 21 points in the final 6:13 to pull away with a 31-20 victory. The criticism was reminiscent of Super Bowl LI, where the then-Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator was pilloried for continuing to attack through the air, a move that helped the New England Patriots come back from a 28-3 deficit.

"I have so much love and respect for Kyle. He's the best coach that I've ever played for," fullback Kyle Juszczyk said. "He's the same guy every single day, no matter what happens. He always looks to himself first when it comes to blame. And he takes our ideas and suggestions and will really listen, and think about implementing things after the fact. It sucks just because of how much everybody respects and loves him, and because we hate to hear any negativity about him, and we know it's coming."

Shanahan deserves some criticism for his conservative play-calling at the end of the first half, but it's hard to find much fault with how he handled the fourth quarter. Looking at the play-by-play data, in most cases Shanahan was forced by down and distance or game circumstances into passing the ball. 

As Bill Barnwell of ESPN noted, Shanahan also consistently drew up called passing plays in those situations. Jimmy Garoppolo simply missed the throws that would have put the game away or given the 49ers a lead. 

Still, logic is rarely able to compete with the emotion of the moment. Shanahan's teams have blown two-score leads in the fourth quarter in two of the last four Super Bowls. Until he's able to hoist the Lombardi Trophy, that's going to be his legacy—for better or for worse.