David Kull
As soon as the fourth quarter began Monday night, Kyle Shanahan’s San Francisco 49ers were already headed for a gloomy Christmas outcome against the Baltimore Ravens.
On their way to a 33-19 rout at Levi’s Stadium, the Ravens took control of the game with a decisive third quarter in which they outscored the 49ers’ 17-0.
With 12 minutes to play, the Ravens were up by three touchdowns, which was more than enough. In fact, given Kyle Shanahan’s coaching history with the 49ers, it was about two touchdowns more than Baltimore needed.
Kyle Shanahan has coached the 49ers to three NFC championship games and one Super Bowl appearance during his seven seasons as the team’s head coach, and this year’s 49ers could be playing for the franchise’s sixth Super Bowl title in February.
But the fourth quarter has never been friendly to Kyle Shanahan, especially when his team is trailing by anything more than one touchdown.
The numbers don’t help Kyle Shanahan
Under Shanahan, when the 49ers have entered the fourth quarter down by eight points or more, here is their record in those games, including Monday’s against the Ravens: 0-38.
The winning percentage for all NFL teams down by 8+ points to start the fourth is 7 percent (98-1,337-4), so rallying from that kind of deficit is doable, but not normally likely for any head coach, not just Kyle Shanahan.
Going back to his days as an offensive coordinator with four different teams, Shanahan’s fourth-quarter comeback percentage was 12 percent (7-for-52), which is well above the league average. That makes it all the more surprising that his 49ers teams have yet to pull off a big comeback late in the game.
In the fourth quarter Monday night, Shanahan removed starter Brock Purdy, who suffered his second stinger in two games while being tackled. He was cleared to play shortly after getting hurt, but taking Purdy out of the game was probably for the best, since he’d already thrown a career-high four interceptions.
Kyle Shanahan pulls Brock Purdy in fourth quarter
Shanahan replaced Purdy with backup Sam Darnold, the former No. 2 overall pick with Carolina in 2018, who led the 49ers to their only second-half touchdown.
He threw a TD pass to rookie Ronnie Bell to cut the score to 33-19, and then had them on the cusp of another score until he threw the 49ers’ fifth interception of the day with 1:09 to seal the Ravens’ victory.
Related: Lamar Jackson new MVP favorite as Brock Purdy’s stock plummets
Purdy entered the Christmas day game as the favorite for the NFL MVP award, but his candidacy took a massive hit with his four-pick performance. Before that, however, the only stain on Purdy’s record was that he had never led a fourth-quarter comeback.
And after Monday’s lopsided loss to Baltimore, he still hasn’t. Down by eight points or more, neither has Kyle Shanahan. That doesn’t bode well for the postseason, when teams often need late-game comebacks to survive and advance.
It’s not like the 49ers lack the offensive weapons to make a comeback happen. But until it does, don’t bet that Purdy and Shanahan will.
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