The Dallas Cowboys made a furious comeback attempt in their 28-25 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, scoring 19 unanswered fourth-quarter points to turn a laugher into a hotly-contested game. But before they made their run, FOX broadcasters Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady had to dip into their blowout material.
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Late in the third quarter, TV cameras found a fan in the stands wearing a shirt depicting Brady’s infamous 28-3 resurgence in Super Bowl LI. This led Burkhardt and Brady to talk about the iconic game for a moment, which brought joy to the former quarterback.
“Yes. You’re trying to warm my heart now!”
The eventually-competitive matchup Brady called also warmed his heart. On the West Coast, one of his adversaries in Super Bowl LI was less fortunate.
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan – the Atlanta Falcons’ offensive coordinator during Super Bowl LI – watched his team yield 13 unanswered fourth-quarter points of their own in a 27-24 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Rams in Week 3.
As disappointing as that result was, it isn’t the loss that sticks with Shanahan the most. Surprisingly, neither is the Super Bowl 51 defeat.
Shanahan isn’t haunted by Super Bowl LI loss
Blowing a 25-point lead in a championship game isn’t something one of us would get over very quickly. In all likelihood, it’s not an event Shanahan immediately moved on from, either.
But before Super Bowl LVIII last February, the 49ers head coach revealed the game that sticks with him the most is Super Bowl LIV.
In that contest, San Francisco carried a 20-10 lead into the fourth quarter but lost 31-20. Instead of letting the sting of those defeats weigh him down, Shanahan lets them re-inspire his passion for the sport.
“The harder one was the Kansas City game, personally. As you get older and you go through the experience… you try to control everything. You realize you can’t. You also realize you can handle it. And you realize how much you love it.”
The loss Shanahan absorbed in Super Bowl LVIII surely sticks in his craw, too. Unless San Francisco’s injured superstars get healthy sooner than later, he may not have the chance to exorcise his demons until the 2025 season.
