The San Francisco 49ers had it all right there for the taking.  The franchise's first Super Bowl championship since 1994 was all but in their grasp.  

And then suddenly, it was gone.  For the second time in four years, Kansas City Chiefs players celebrated on the field as 49ers players and coaches silently filed off towards their locker room.  This time, it cut a little bit deeper, as the Niners became the second team in NFL history to lose in overtime, falling 25-22 in Super Bowl LVIII.  

Sure, the game ended when the Niners couldn't stop Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs' offense on the second drive in overtime after settling for a chip shot Jake Moody field goal on their possession.  Mahomes' 3-yard touchdown to Mecole Hardman set off a wild celebration and delivered another loss to Kyle Shanahan when leading a Super Bowl by double digits.

However, the failure of Shanahan and the Niners can be traced back to after halftime.  Leading 10-3, the Niners had a golden opportunity to seize full control of the game on their first drive.  After Ji'Ayir Brown intercepted Mahomes at the Kansas City 44, the Niners went to work on offense.  

Only, they didn't do what they'd done so well this year: hand the ball to their best player in Christian McCaffrey.  Instead, Shanahan put the ball in Brock Purdy's hands and had him throw.  First down, incomplete.  Then a false start put the Niners back five yards.  An incompletion and a short scramble, San Francisco had to punt.  From the edge of field goal range to giving it back.  

After a Chiefs punt, the Niners got the ball back with relatively good field position at their own 36.  Lesson learned from the last drive?  No.  A first down pass resulted in an 8-yard loss, and all of a sudden, the Niners were playing well behind the sticks again and forced to shelve the running game again.  Not surprisingly, they punted again.  

Kansas City managed to notch a field goal on their next drive – a 57 yarder from Harrison Butker that topped Moody's NFL-record 55-yarder from earlier in the game – and the Niners got the ball back with a chance to try to reestablish momentum and extend their lead back to double digits again.  

Shanahan called finally McCaffrey's number on the ground, which ended in no gain.  Then, Purdy threw the ball incomplete in the directions of Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel, which ended in a punt. 

Nine plays, one run, three punts.  

The Chiefs would get the ball back after a punt bounced off the foot of Darrell Luter, Jr. and Mahomes found Marquez Valdes-Scantling wide open in the end zone on the following play for a 13-10 Kansas City lead.  

San Francisco would answer with a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown that ended with Jauan Jennings taking a short pass from Purdy and fighting his way into the end zone to regain the lead, although the extra point was blocked.  

But the Niners were in for a street fight the rest of the way against one of the greatest quarterbacks the league has seen in Mahomes.  And it was a position they perhaps did not have to be in had they ridden two of their biggest strengths before that in NFL Offensive Player of the Year McCaffrey and its imposing offensive line.  

It's just another "what if" moment for Shanahan on the game's biggest stage.  

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