Championship Sunday didn't disappoint, delivering two matchups that went down to the wire. With our Super Bowl matchup being the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams, here are two main takeaways from the weekend.
Both Losing Coaches Are Bad Game-Managers: Both Andy Reid and Kyle Shanahan had double-digit leads at one point in their respective games. They had a chance to seal a Super Bowl rematch from a couple of years ago, with an opportunity to close their games out before the fourth quarter. However, both coaches were burned by the opposing quarterback and game mismanagement. Andy Reid's carelessness and Kyle Shanahan's overthinking led to both the Chiefs and 49ers being ousted. Granted, there wasn't much of a run game established for San Francisco and Patrick Mahomes looked human in the second half. However, the onus falls on these two to put their teams in winning positions for good. Instead of a rematch, both coaches will be sitting at home on Super Bowl Sunday.
Jimmy Garappolo's 49er Days Are Done: It doesn't matter how many teammates stick up for Jimmy G. It doesn't even matter if the front office has your back at the start of the season. At the end of the day, you don't repeat your performance from Super Bowl LIV and expect to be a starting quarterback. That's what happened to Garappolo, who didn't complete a single pass in San Francisco's last two possessions. It wasn't just the fourth quarter, though. It was also overthrown passes to the likes of George Kittle, who had been open in the middle of the field a few times. While Shanahan and John Lynch got what they wanted out of their quarterback, 49er fans are counting down the days where Trey Lance officially gets the starting position for good. Thus, Jimmy G is left to find a role elsewhere.
