NFL players often kick themselves after committing penalties, especially when it proves costly.
But there perhaps wasn’t a more devastating penalty last season than the one then-Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Dee Ford committed in the 2018 AFC Championship Game.
An offsides penalty late in the fourth quarter brought a game-clinching interception back and gave the New England Patriots another shot at glory, which they took and ultimately won the game in overtime.
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SIGN UP HERE Now a member of the 49ers, Ford hasn’t forgotten the gaffe by any means. And Frank Clark, the new star of the Chiefs’ defensive line, isn’t going to let him forget it before Super Bowl LIV, either.
"I just know he had lined up offside, and anybody who lined up offside at a time like that I feel like that's a dumb penalty at the end of the day," he said told reporters in Miami, Fla. on Tuesday (H/T ESPN's Adam Teicher). "I'm sure he feels the same way. Personally, I've lined up offside before but not in that type of [situation] ... In any [situation] that's just something that shouldn't happen."
Clark already hadn’t been quiet this postseason, calling out Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry ahead of Kansas City’s AFC Championship win about two weeks ago.
He can talk all he wants, but Clark and the Chiefs' defense will have its hands full with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers offense.
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San Francisco actually outpaced the high-octane Chiefs offense in total yards this season, and the Niners set a host of team playoff records in the NFC Championship Game, including running back Raheem Mostert rushing for 220 yards and four touchdowns.
Clark will have to back up his talk Sunday when the two teams go head-to-head for the Vince Lombardi Trophy at Hard Rock Stadium.
Programming note: NBC Sports Bay Area feeds your hunger for 49ers Super Bowl coverage with special editions of “49ers Central” all week (8 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 9 p.m. Tuesday and 3 p.m. Saturday).
Also tune in at 1 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday for a two-hour special of "49ers Pregame Live" with Laura Britt, Donte Whitner, Jeff Garcia, Ian Williams, Kelli Johnson, Greg Papa and Grant Liffmann. That same crew will have all the postgame reaction on "49ers Postgame Live," starting immediately after the game.