I was hoping to get this Blog out before the Super Bowl but I was in the Bay Area attending a Mass of Remembrance with relatives. My blog would have predicted the Chiefs winning by eleven. LIAR! I was thinking of saying the 49ers will win by three touchdowns. I was amazed and disgusted with their collapse.
As I mentioned in a previous blog, if you are not going to win The Super Bowl lose early in the playoffs. But the Niners lost late and history predicts years of frustration and new coaches await the team. It will take years to forget Sunday! If you would like a glimpse of next years team just look at the Rams games this year. Teams do not build upon Super Bowl losses. Up until 2019 when New England beat the Rams, the 1972 Dallas Cowboys were the only team in NFL history to win the next year after losing a Super Bowl. So it was believed with New England's win the jinx was broken. Maybe for a year but look at Patroits now who got eliminated early this year and are trying a find a way to keep their 42 year old QB happy without giving him a ten year contract.
Forty Niner fans still remember the 2013 Super Bowl when an unprepared 49er team blew the game to the Ravens. The results of that loss had devastating results for years. The fact that the owner and coach hated each other didn't help. The Niners had four plays to get a TD from a few yards out to win the Super Bowl but did not have a play for a QB noted for his running to score. Give me a break!
But this year the 49er thrived on their successful running game. That why we forgot about Jimmy Garoppolo who we wrote about early in the season that he is not the answer at QB. He panics and can't throw a long pass as evident by his horrible performance in the Super Bowl. Why did he forget he had the best TE on his team and not pass to him. Look for a mobile QB NOW!
George Kittle caught a beautiful pass just before half which would have seen up a field goal and give the Niners the lead and half time. But he was called for pass interference. Who can explain pass interference? Don't expect the NFL to have an answer. They have been playing for 100 years and we now have 6 camera angels to determine a completed forward pass. Use to be simple --- hits the ground incomplete doesn't hit the ground complete.
After his Super Bowl play calling plays for Atlanta a few year ago, Shanahan now has the reputation of blowing Super Bowl games. Well deserved!
Andy Reid on the other hand can now add a Super Bowl championship to his resume. It is not easy being a head coach with many unexpected problems he has to solve. At the right is a picture of the Coach with my granddaughter Emi. Both the UofA women's soccer team and the Chiefs were staying at the same Silicon Valley Hotel. The Wildcats were in town to play Santa Clara and San Jose State while the Chief would be playing the Raiders in Oakland.
You might remember reading about the fact that the Chiefs kicker had fungus on his toe and was questionable for the game. All the reserve NFL kickers were already signed for the weekend so the Chiefs became desperate. Reid knew there were kickers in town --- the UofA Womens Soccer team. Some tried out and like Emi but could not hit the fifty yard field goal consistently enough. Reid called on his medial staff to make a check of the kicker. They discovered that he had not cut his toe nails in three months. The coach ordered him to go to Happy Nails and they cut his nails and like a miracle his fungus was gone. And you wonder why he is a great coach.
Warriors
In our last addition the Warriors had just won four straight and were on their way to be the best of the worst for drafting. Well my cousin three times removed handles tickets for some 500 season ticket holders. He happened to hear about a phone call Kerr got from upstairs. Now he did not hear this himself. But the Warriors were breaking in a new secretary and she happened to know one of the staff. That staff member's secretary works right next to Kerr's office. The door to the office was open and she heard the phone and Kerr picked it up and she could hear words like "What the hell are you doing?" He got the message and the Warriors have lost something like 10 out of 12 and are now back in the thick of the race to have the worst league record to increase their odds to get the top pick in the draft.
Giants
The Super Bowl is over and it is Winter Training Time with Giants players reporting new week and the first training game in a few short weeks. The Giants are signing minor league players almost everyday so it will take a few weeks of winter training to sort out who might make the team.
