49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has twice been on the precipice of winning a Super Bowl. First, in 2016 as the Falcons offensive coordinator when Atlanta blew a 28-3 lead to the Patriots in Super Bowl LI. Then again in 2019 when the 49ers stumbled to a 31-20 loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV.
Both times the team Shanahan was part of had fourth-quarter leads erased and Shanahan catches a lion’s share of the blame for those losses, but former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III believes those late collapses happened in part because of the quarterback play. That’s where Trey Lance comes in.
“I think 49ers fans have to be ready for there to be ups and downs with Trey,” Griffin told the Sacramento Bee. “But the bottom line is Kyle Shanahan has had extreme success with guys like Matt Ryan and Jimmy Garoppolo, who are going to run the offense, and there’s going to be times when Trey, his talent and his ability takes over, and that’s what’s going to take over the hump to get them to the Super Bowl. Which is what they didn’t have with Matt Ryan when they were up 28-3 against the Patriots, and they didn’t have that with Jimmy Garoppolo, when he missed that last throw down to Emmanuel Sanders when he overthrew him.”
