what defense is he going up against?

specifically, would the head coach of the opposing team need to call a timeout because he saw that his DC was once again in a poor coverage on 3rd down?

Maybe Shanahan figured that his defense could keep performing reasonably well (only 1 td allowed to that point in the game). When you have guys shouting on the sideline to watch qb keep on 4th and 1 and your defensive coordinator is out of the loop (again), maybe that guy just needed to be replaced.

That's not a strategy issue in as much as it is a coach who couldn't rise to the occasion. If they hadn't fired him, several of their star players were likely to demand trades.

Oh, for sure, I won't defend Wilks

I just think Mahomes has ascended to the Jordan/Brady level, which means he's going to get what he needs when he needs it...even if he's been held in check thus far.

I think analytics have to account for the opponent...and I think Mahomes generally turns 50/50 propositions into ones that (greatly) favor his team.

look, there were a variety of mistakes in OT

and in the game in general. I believe that is a game the Niners should have won and basically completely blew it, and it started in the first drive of the game and continued through overtime; nobody is immune from blame, including (and especially) Shanahan.

We have the benefit of hindsight here, but I think that is basically came down to OL play and mangled pro schemes (looking back at the tape, apparently there were 4 plays that would have been td's with better pro, and there were 6 other potential shot plays where things didn't hit because of pressure. You can't hit on everything, but your % needs to be higher than that) as well as questionable defensive play calls at crucial moments. The Niners are very lucky Kelce didn't score at the end of the game, as an example. They're very lucky they got out of the first half without giving up a td. The Chiefs were able to get Kelce isolated on a LB (Warner is elite, but he is still a LB) and use his leverage against him in the second half; Wilks was standing there on the sidelines doing his inner Ty Willingham/wooden Indian routine and had no answers.

It was completely blown; those pointing out missed holding calls and overtime strategy are basically missing the point. For one, the officiating was extremely poor for both teams, and secondly it never should have come down to that. Kyle absolutely knows that this is the case, IMO. He knows that this game was blown. Hopefully he gets another chance, and hopefully Wilks and everyone else from the Willingham regime never coaches again for any team I root for (alas, Denbrock, but everyone knows how I feel about that).

SF’s D Played Their Best Game of Playoff in SB

This one is squarely on Shanny. Spags definitely owned him but Shanny reverted to his SB form and wilted.