The 49ers lost in heartbreaking fashion to the Chiefs in Super Bowl 54 Sunday by blowing a ten-point lead in the fourth quarter. That being said, there were definitely some calls 49ers’ fans were upset about and we’re going to breakdown some of the plays that were somewhat controversial during San Francisco’s 31-20 loss.
The first play that 49ers’ fans will argue against was the offensive pass interference call on tight end Greg Kittle who caught a pass late in the second quarter that would have set the 49ers up on the Chiefs’ 13-yard line. Both the defender and Kittle have their hands out jockeying for position but there is a clear push-off from the two-time Pro Bowler right before he makes the catch. There also wasn’t much outrage from the sidelines as the 49ers ended up with a field goal to make it 10-10 going into halftime.
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The biggest call of the game seemed to be the instance where Chiefs’ running back Damien Williams caught a 5-yard touchdown pass where he had to reach out with the football to break the plane before stepping out of bounds. It was initially ruled a touchdown by the game official standing by the pylon and after review there was no clear evidence that Williams had stepped out of bounds before the ball crossed the line.
However, the 49ers definitely caught a break when they were trying to score late in the fourth quarter with 2:44 remaining. After seven plays San Francisco was facing a 4th and 10 at the Chiefs 49 with 1:25 left in the fourth. Jimmy Garoppolo ended up getting sacked by Chiefs’ defensive end Frank Clark, but after looking at the replay it’s clear that the officials should have called delay of game as the game clock was on “zero” for over a second.
Whether or not Niners’ fans feel they were screwed in the game, there’s no question they blew their chances and caught a break late in the game. We’ve posted both videos below so you can decide for yourself.
