The NFL playoff overtime rules changed several years ago, but Super Bowl LVIII was the first playoff game where the new format was in effect. The basics of the new overtime rules are simple: both teams get possession of the ball no matter if a team scores a touchdown on the opening possession or not.
The Kansas City Chiefs certainly knew what was going on. The San Francisco 49ers did not. And that was the ball game: Chiefs 25, 49ers 22.
Here’s a look at the striking difference in the way the two teams were prepared for a potential overtime.
49ers didn’t know the new playoff rules
In the aftermath of the Chiefs’ overtime Super Bowl victory, San Francisco players admitted they did not know the new overtime rules — even though they were in place for two years.
“I guess that’s not the case,” 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk said, via The Ringer. “I don’t really know the strategy.”
Juszczyk thought a team that got the ball first in overtime won if they scored a touchdown, which was the rule instituted in 2010. Under those playoff overtime rules, the game would not immediately end if the team that gets the ball first scores a field goal on its first possession — but he game would end if a touchdown is scored by the offense or if the defense scores a safety on the first possession of the overtime period.
The 49ers’ Arik Armstead also admitted he wasn’t aware of the new overtime rule, not knowing the other team got possession of the ball even if the team that won the coin toss — and chose to receive — scored a touchdown. Those were the sudden death overtime rules pre-2010.
If 49ers players were unaware of the new overtime rules, did Kyle Shanahan know? If Shanahan did know, how did he prepare for a Super Bowl that certainly had the potential to go to overtime? It was a possibility that skyrocketed after kicker Jake Moody had an extra point attempt blocked with 11:22 left in…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/super-bowl-2024-why-the-glaring-contrast-in-chiefs-49ers-new-ot-rules-preparation-may-have-decided-the-game/
Author : Jeff Kerr
Publish date : 2024-02-12 18:54:54
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