Chiefs', 49ers' knowledge of overtime rules may have been difference in Super Bowl LVIII
Super Bowl LVIII between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers was only the second time the big game went to overtime.
It was the first time a Super Bowl (or any playoff game for that matter) went past regulation since the NFL changed its overtime rules as well.
The Niners won the coin toss prior to overtime Sunday night in Las Vegas and drove down the field but had to settle for a Jake Moody field goal. Thanks to the new rules, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs got one chance to possess the ball and that was all they needed, as the six-time Pro Bowler connected with wideout Mecole Hardman for the game-winning touchdown in the 25-22 victory.
According to a report by Lindsay Jones of The Ringer, there were Kansas City and San Francisco players with very different levels of knowledge of the new postseason overtime rules.
Jones wrote that when Mahomes and 49ers All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner met at midfield for the overtime coin toss, the two stars had "very different instructions from their respective head coaches."
If Warner won the toss (which he did), San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan wanted the team to receive the ball first. If Mahomes had won it, he would've chosen to kick away to the Brock Purdy-led offense.
Per Jones, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said that his team's strategy "ended up being the right one" but it "easily could have gone the other way."
“I’m never going to question Kyle, because he’s brilliant, but that was something we chose and, through our studies, we thought was important," Reid added.
The league instituted the new overtime rules in 2022, essentially inspired by that year's Kansas City playoff victory against the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round. Ironically, Mahomes and company lost in a similar way to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game in January 2019.
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