not have killed him but if the scenario I put out happened he would absolutely be facing criticism from some. That doesn't mean his decision was correct but to act as though there's no justification for taking the ball and it was an epically dumb decision I think is unfair.

down when the Chiefs were in field goal range, would Reid have gone for it or would he have tied it up? That's another point people seem to be glossing over. Maybe he would have gone for it; probably would have depended on distance. If it was 3rd and 8 +, I doubt he would have. If he chose to kick at that point and it was successful, now the Niners have the advantage again where one score would have won in sudden death.

Again, we don't know because the defense couldn't do it, for a variety of reasons. That's what the Niners should be examining--why couldn't they get a stop? Yeah, Mahomes is good, but they've got talent on that defense as well, even without Greenlaw.

in a real high pressure spot during that drive. Since KC doesn't have a play caller who thinks shot gun/run the QB into the line is a good idea with the season on the line they were able to get themselves out of that with ease.

Shanahan should have accounted for that in regulation, which is why I hated the second and third down play calls on both sides of the two minute warning. I definitely felt that he should have run on both of those plays. At a minimum, he would have forced the Chiefs to call a timeout.

But hindsight is 20-20. And Steve Wilks is fucking terrible.

that basically say it's a toss up and yet you claim the opposite in your post.

And I completely disagree with the game management argument. They were down 3/4 of their starting secondary at that point and those guys needed time to get worked on to be ready to play. You would prefer to go with backups at that point? Against one of the best qb's and one of the best playcallers ever?

I suppose that I disagree.

We know this and most believe he is a really good coach too. The decision he made was poor and no coach will make that decision again in that situation. There are a litany of coaches you would be killing for that decision not named Shanahan.

I didn't like his play calling at times, especially late in regulation, and I've said so.

This argument is just more silly analytics bullshit. I wouldn't "kill" any coach for that decision, especially given the game situation and his defensive coordinator vs their play caller and head coach.

The criticism lies with the play calls at the beginning of the third quarter, after the two minute warning, the decision to hire Steve Wilks, and the playcalling on second down in the overtime near the goal line. Those are reasonable. I'm not going to second guess a guy for taking the ball when his defense is exhausted, outmanned, and outcoached and has spent a ton of time on the field (and likely should have lost in regulation).

I’m not sure what happens when he gets these leads and not being able to close. I think he’s definitely a top 5 coach in the league. I hesitate to ever rip play calls for a lot of the reasons you always mention, scouting, check with me etc, but there’s no question he has to answer for not closing the deal via sound play calling and clock and game management. They still have a window with this group with the cheap QB. Maybe next year they do it.

especially when the refs have swallowed their whistles are are "allowing guys to play" and the other team has an all time great at qb.

He needs to do a better job with his defense and adjust his scheme, especially to account for mobile qb's. They don't face that as much in the NFC, but the top AFC teams all seem to have mobile guys and they keep getting gashed. He needs to do a better job with his special teams; they have struggled with simply catching the ball on kicks for several years now. If those things don't improve, they're not going to win shit, especially vs a team like the chiefs.