“Absurd?” Coaches around the league bleed the clock on last drives in regulation to set up for a field goal attempt with zeros on the clock.
No ones saying Shanahan should’ve abandoned the pass in favor of the run. Niners received the ball, converted 2nd and 6 to their own 43 yard line with 1:42 left on the clock. At this point, niners had enough time to “attack” by running a balanced offense, especially since Mason was ripping off 5-10 yard runs against their line in the second half. They only needed 25 more yards to get into Moody’s range. Rams had one time out left and were playing the pass all the way. Run the ball from the 43, bleed the clock to one minute before you run your next play and make them use their last timeout after your first or second down play. How many times do we hear coaches and commentators say “you’re playing your opponent and the clock?” Sure, Bell dropped the ball and he shoulders a lot of the blame, but coming out with 3 straight pass plays in that situation was dumb.
call it hindsight if you want, but how many more times do we have to watch shanahan have play calling melt downs late in games like this? He’s a great schemer and play designer but he doesn’t seem to learn from his mistakes, especially when it comes to being too married to passing.
