My only hope is that the NFL, at some point, gets it's collective head out it's collective ass and decides to enforce the rules as written instead of allowing the on field officials to "interpret" the rules.

False starts, holding, offensive and defensive PI and offsides now all seem to be less absolutes and more at the whim of what an official thinks that they are. It's slowly creeping towards more of a "pro wrestling" style of officiating.

As far as Sunday night.....if Jake Moody makes that extra point the 49ers win. KC's offense was stuck in neutral all night. The 49ers has all the momentum in the world at that point. But as soon as he missed at XP, you started to get a feeling. And when SF opted for a FG instead of going for it on 4th down in OT...well...you don't give the ball to the best QB in the NFL with a chance to win the SB in OT.

KC had the ball on about the 5 yard line, second down with 6 seconds lefy in the 4th quarter and one timeout left. If they were down 17-13, as opposed to 16-13, they had one or possibly two plays to score a touchdown. That certainly gave them a reasonable shot at a win.

With the score 16-13, they kicked the field goal. The missed extra point changed the strategy of the game, but making it wouldn't have guaranteed an SF win.

the previous possession if they had been down 4 instead of 3. I believe they had 4th and goal at around the 5.

I don't think any one thing cost the Niners the game, but they pretty much had to play perfect in order to take it out of Mahomes hands, and they didn't. Special teams, OL play, and defensive playcalling and scheme did them in, despite their overall talent advantage.

But it was a clear turning point for me. There just seemed to be a shift in the whole mood of the game.

But, that's just me.

in the first half, none of us Chiefs fans were hot and bothered. (I watched with three D-1 guys...two who played for Reid at Mizzou). the interception to start the 2nd half threw us...kind of a "ruh roh" moment. We were grinding, but then that punt happened and we scored immediately and all of us thought that it was a "game on" moment.

It was a great game...one of those games where it was truly a bummer that one team had to lose. the fact that 49'ers let go of their DC today tells me that they are truly committed to excellence.

they had KC 4th and 1 and a stop there wins the game.

weren't you the guy just saying last week that Mahomes is kermit or something, denigrating him? Now he's the best QB in the game?

I call him Kermit because he looks and sounds like Kermit The Frog. I also explained that, on the field, he’s the best QB in the NFL by a wide margin. But if you’re the kind of guy who wants to think that I was denigrating him, be my guest. I’ll still sleep well tonight.

There are funny nicknames and hurtful nicknames. I refuse to let Donald Trump ruin all nicknames for all people.

I thought the Super Bowl used a kind of all-star crew. I don't pay attention to which officials work on a given crew, so I don't know if I'm right about that or not.

was not paying enough attention to catch his name

said selection was based on top grade at each spot throughout the season and those selected had been working together the last two weeks to prep since it's an all-star team rather than a week-to-week crew

for evaluation purposes, they go by the white hat (head ref). He's also responsible for holding calls and roughing the passer.

This was the same white hat as the previous super bowl between the teams, FWIW.

Lots of missed holds, both ways, and the spotting seemed way off several times (seemed to benefit the 9ers, but I didn't do a study).

I was surprised a few things were not reviewed from the booth. The "catch" on the sideline has been ruled incomplete in many games (even on review after being called a catch on the field). But they didn't even pause it to review. I remember thinking "wait, no review?" a couple more times, but I don't remember the exact play. I think one was a spotting issue.

Edit to add: Rewatched some highlights, and it was the Pacheco run in OT that resulted in a 3rd and 1 before Mahomes's final run to the 13 or so. Sure seemed in real time, and then on review, that Pacheco had picked up the first down. But, again, no review.

I thought there was some difference in a rule for passes that were behind the LOS, but I may be mistaken. Otherwise it did seem there was a lot of downfield blocking prior to completions.

If the pass is behind the line the ol can block someone trying to intercept the ball, as long as they are behind (McCaffrey 1st td). If the pass is beyond the line on an rpo the ol cannot be downfield more than 1 yard (game winning td there were ol in the end zone, ball was snapped at the 4).

So can't they push their defenders downfield as far as they want?

it's not supposed to be a run block look, that usually gets flagged.

Edit: it was a double team run block by the guard and tackle on the 3 technique. They did engage him at the line.