If anyone expected Kyle Shanahan’s approach to issuing challenge flags to change after the 2022-2023 NFC Championship game, they were mistaken.
During the NFC Championship, the 49ers were in the game for a brief period and fans believed they could win. On fourth and 3, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts connected with DeVonta Smith for 29 yards. From the perspective of the television, it appeared to be a fantastic one-handed grab. The Eagles rushed to the line and snapped the ball before anyone could say anything else.
Replays revealed that Smith did not catch it, and Shanahan should have thrown a flag. So why didn’t he do it? So he addressed it in his Friday press conference, offering everyone an inside peek into how the 49ers consider possible reviews:
“That play didn’t work. I mean, I handled it exactly like I always have. If they rush to the line and it’s a big play and you don’t know what to do, I’d chuck it. I believe I accomplished that earlier this year against Jacksonville. I believe it was in Jacksonville. Do you recall? I threw one, and I believe we got an interception a couple of plays later. The issue with that one is that everyone on our headsets thought he caught it, and then they showed something on the replay that appeared to show he caught it. So we didn’t care anymore. Some people rush after an explosive, sometimes on offense, merely to be safe.
But we didn’t have any reactions or anything, so we didn’t want to waste the timeout because the replay we saw of how we felt they were acting from everyone who witnessed it live from our side, we thought was perfect. When we had the ball, the next time I heard from upstairs, they had only seen another viewpoint that was incomplete. So nothing has changed. I normally throw it if we don’t know anything and it’s a big play. But we just assumed he caught it based on what we saw and the fact that no one living nearby realized it was doubtful.”
It’s a reasonable response; they didn’t show the spectators the plain and obvious angle from which the ball came out until the Eagles scored a few plays later. There wasn’t enough time to burn a time out given how quickly they were approaching the line. Especially because Shanahan has been chastised for his challenge success rate.
Kyle Shanahan’s record with challenge flags may best be described as “hit or miss.” He’s 0-2 on challenges for 2023 and 20 for 36 for his career. Many of those flags were for illogical reasons, leaving the 49ers with one fewer timeout when they could need it to close a half.
As dubious as that particular catch proved to be—and in retrospect, Shanahan should have thrown a flag—the better question is: Why should Shanahan have to throw a flag in the first place? Why is replay in such a position that catches like that are ambiguous and the league is unwilling to be proactive in getting it right? Why can’t one of those amazing “discussions” take place on the field?
That question may be posed again and again, and the answer is simple: coaches have three (perhaps four) opportunities to hold NFL officials accountable. Those are the regulations, and they aren’t going away anytime soon. This is what the competition committee decided.
Shanahan may go for the flag again against the Eagles on Sunday, potentially in a similar circumstance to last year’s 4th and 3. If something like that happens again, hopefully they’ll notice something to overturn or simply don’t know what to do and throw it.
