There's not been a lack of criticism for the 49ers from sports media members following their loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII and Bill Simmons took to his podcast to join in and roast coach Kyle Shanahan. At the start of the overtime period, Shanahan elected to receive the ball first instead of deferring to the Chiefs. With the new NFL overtime rules, many believe it's more advantageous to receive the ball second. This way, you can control your own destiny by either tying the game with a field goal or scoring a touchdown for the win.

The new playoff overtime rules, implemented in 2022, are as follows: each team is granted one possession in overtime. If the team that chooses to receive the ball first successfully drives down the field and scores a touchdown, the opposing team has a chance to respond and potentially tie and extend the game. However, if the team receiving the ball first fails to score or only manages a field goal, as was the case last night, and the opposing team scores a touchdown to take the lead, the game ends.

The Cheifs certainly controlled their destiny, answering the 49ers OT opening field goal with a touchdown that sealed the game. Shanahan detailed his decision to get the ball first in overtime in postgame comments obtained by NFL.com.

“It's just something we talked about. None of us have a ton of experience with it. But we went through all the analytics and talked to those guys. We just thought it would be better. We wanted the ball third. If both teams matched and scored, we wanted to be the ones who had the chance to go win. Got that field goal, so knew we had to hold them to at least a field goal, and if we did, then we thought it was in our hands after that.”

It's safe to say that Bill Simmons didn't agree with the rationale and surely eviscerated Shanahan for his decision on The Bill Simmons Podcast.

“These are new Super Bowl rules where it doesn’t matter you could score 8 points on your first drive the other team is still getting the ball, and I don’t think people fully realize the ramifications of who goes first, who goes second, until we were watching the game. I thought it was interesting they went first, my thinking was maybe he felt like his defense was tired but then as you watch it unfold it was such an advantage to go second, after watching that, anyone who picks we want the ball first in that situation is the biggest moron on the planet.”

Simmons's comment notwithstanding, it appears as if several 49ers players didn't know the rules of overtime fully.

Niners defensive lineman Arik Armstead said, in a quote obtained by the Athletic, “I didn’t even know about the new playoff overtime rule. It was a surprise to me. I didn’t know what was going on, in terms of that. They put it on the scoreboard and everyone was thinking, even if you score, they get a chance still.”

“You know what? I didn’t even realize the playoff rules were different in overtime. I assume you just want the ball to score a touchdown and win. I guess that’s not the case. I don’t totally know the strategy there. We hadn’t talked about it, no,” fullback Kyle Juszczyk said in a quote obtained by ESPN.

The 49ers not knowing the overtime rules certainly falls on preparation, which goes to coaching. And this, in what appears to be coaching malfeasance, will haunt San Francisco for a long time.