There were many plays from Sunday’s Super Bowl LIV loss to the Kansas City Chiefs that have been hyper-analyzed and critiqued in the aftermath.
One that continues to come up is the offensive pass interference penalty on George Kittle, which negated an impressive 42-yard completion from Jimmy Garoppolo just before the end of the first half.
Replays clearly showed a full extension of Kittle’s arm on Kansas City safety Daniel Sorensen, by definition making it a penalty, but nonetheless, the timing of the penalty and degree of the infraction have left many 49ers fans frustrated with a game where there were several controversial missed calls.
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"I question that call because that call was the same situation -- you look at the Vikings and the Saints game," Former 49ers receiver and Hall of Famer Terrell Owens said 95.7 The Game. "When Kyle Rudolph caught the touchdown in the end zone. It's a similar situation where he basically pressed out to gain an advantage to catch the ball. There was no difference in what Kittle did, and that play there.
"The NFL should be ashamed of themselves. There's no consistency in those calls.”
Three points for the Niners would have been just about guaranteed had the flag not been thrown.
San Francisco 49ers
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What already was a rough season for league officials wasn’t helped during a postseason that saw several teams significantly impacted by missed penalty flags.
Nonetheless, all head coach Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers can do is push this loss out of their minds and look to 2020, where the team will be among the top contenders to once again play in the Super Bowl.
