49ers handing franchise over to coach who blew Super Bowl

It’s not often you get a promotion after the worst moment of your career.

However, that is the position Kyle Shanahan finds himself in after the Falcons’ Super Bowl LI collapse against the Patriots. Atlanta’s offensive coordinator had called a brilliant game for two and a half quarters, and had the Falcons up, 28-3. It would have been a perfect cap on his stint as a coordinator before Shanahan is announced as the 49ers head coach in the coming days.

But then everything went to hell.

Shanahan refused to take his foot off the gas, and his aggressive play-calling gave Tom Brady the opportunity to rally the Patriots to a stunning win.

Running back Devonta Freeman averaged 6.8 yards per carry in the game, and was virtually ignored when the Falcons needed him most.

— At 28-12, on third-and-1, Matt Ryan dropped back to pass and was sacked by Dont’a Hightower. The Patriots recovered at the Falcons’ 25 yard line with 8:30 minutes left.

— After the Patriots cut the lead to 28-20, the Falcons moved it to the Patriots’ 25 on a brilliant Julio Jones catch. Shanahan called passing plays on three of the next four snaps, which included a sack and a holding penalty that pushed Atlanta out of Matt Bryant’s field-goal range.

Things somehow got worse for Shanahan after the game. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, he ended up stuck outside an elevator that wasn’t working and was forced to walk down one floor through a crowd of celebrating Patriots fans. There was supposed to be another elevator on that floor, but instead Shanahan and several assistants waited 20 minutes without one arriving.

“This is [bleeping] bull,” Shanahan yelled, according to the report.

Nothing appears to have changed in terms of Shanahan’s future. According to ESPN, the 37-year-old is expected to take over the 49ers this week with his responsibilities to the Falcons complete. The 49ers are not going to allow Shanahan’s resume to be sullied by a miserable 20 minutes.

But what seemed like one of the better head-coaching hires is suddenly clouded in criticism.

“The thought is to get as many yards as you can,” Shanahan said, according to ESPN, of not running while in field-goal range. “And we were right there on the fringe. It was by no means an easy field goal. From what I remember, we ran in on first-and-10 and lost yards. Got into second-and-11, so we try to get a pass to get us back into a manageable third down, closer to the field goal, and we took a sack.

“Taking a sack … got us into a third-and-20, so we threw a quick pass trying to get back into field-goal range, which we did. But there was a holding call on the play. And when you get a holding call on third-and-20, it goes back that far. We were way out of field-goal range. We tried our best to get back in, but couldn’t get it done.”