Should Kyle Shanahan have taken a tie?

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Mar 20, 2019
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Analytics have become more and more prevalent regarding the decisions made within the confines of a given football game. During last night’s classic between the Seahawks and 49ers, a broader question of low-level analytics could have been considered by the team that ultimately lost the game.

With 1:50 to play in overtime, the 49ers got the ball on their own 20. The Seahawks had no timeouts, and the 49ers could have simply taken three knees and ended the game in a 24-24 tie.

The outcome would have left the 49ers with a record of 8-0-1, and the Seahawks would have emerged with a mark of 7-2-1. The 49ers would have retained their two-game lead in the loss column over the Seahawks and, almost as importantly, the 8-2 Packers and 7-2 Saints.

Obviously, it would have been the right decision with the benefit of hindsight. The question becomes whether and when a decision like this should be made with the benefit of foresight.

It would be difficult if not impossible for a coach to deliberately not pursue a victory in the heat of the moment. But there’s a legitimate reason for considering the notion of folding the tents and taking a tie in a situation like this — especially when facing a quarterback with a track record of pulling rabbits out of his hat or other orifices with the game on the line.

The reaction would have been harsh, especially from those who had invested nearly four hours in watching the game and who wanted the closure that comes from having a winner and a loser. Shanahan could have explained it in a way that would have gotten some to understand, even if many still would have been upset by the deliberate decision to not try to win the game.

Peter King raised the possibility during Tuesday’s PFT Live, and it makes plenty of sense.

As difficult as it would have been for Shanahan to deal with the backlash of opting for not-really-victory formation, he could have done what Notre Dame’s Ara Parseghian did in 1966 against Michigan State, a game that Simms recalled even though he was 15 years from being born at the time: Call plays from scrimmage but keep the clock moving and not really try to score.

“We’d fought hard to come back and tie it up,” Parseghian said after the still-controversial 1966 outcome between the then-No. 1 Irish and then-No. 2 Spartans, when Notre Dame allowed the final 70 seconds to elapse without displaying any real urgency. “After all that, I didn’t want to risk giving it to them cheap. . . . I wasn’t going to do a jackass thing like that at this point.”

The 49ers did what Parseghian would have called the jackass thing on Monday night, throwing the ball three times and handing the ball back to Russell Wilson and company, opening the door for a Seattle win and emerging with an 8-1 record, while the Seahawks improved to 8-2. With a tie, the Seahawks would have had to pick up a game in the standings and beat San Francisco in the Week 17 rematch. Now, Seattle merely needs to stay one game in the loss column behind the 49ers, which would set the stage for a final-day-of-season NFC West championship game.
 
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