Us Niner faithful have just received some of the most tragic and devastating news in the history of the Niners since Colin Kaepernick threw that awful interception on a hail mary play to Michael Crabtree in the National Football Conference (NFC) game in 2013. And yeah! That was almost 7 years ago, which honestly just goes to show what kind of role reversal the Niners have had since then.

 Anyways, getting back to the brunt of it all. Yes, yes, it’s all true — the San Francisco 49ers lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the most watched football game all year, Super Bowl LIV. But don’t even get me started by bringing up the 49ers’ repeated missed opportunities during the game, or, on second thought, why not? Sportsman Kushal here, ready to break it down for y’all!

Let’s start at the very beginning, which means we have to dial back the clock to about three weeks ago when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Green Bay Packers in a relatively chill and easy NFC championship game by a cool 17 point margin.

From there, the Super Bowl matchup was finally set. The so-called “pretenders”, the overlooked San Francisco 49ers up against the red hot Kansas City Chiefs, at last! Both teams had their own strengths and I have got to admit, it was the perfect face-off: the strength of one team would be pitted against the strength of the other. The Chiefs’ absolutely brilliant offense was led by one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL in Patrick Mahomes, while the Niners’ star-studded defense was almost reminiscent of the 1985 Chicago Bears’ defense, one of the greatest all-time defenses in the NFL.

Moving along now, the game started off at a fast tempo with the Niners’ defense holding the Chiefs to a 3 and out, or, in other words, held them to 3 downs before forcing them to punt. In the Niners’ next drive, the combination of multiple completions and successful rushing attacks led the team to field goal range, where the 49ers ultimately were forced to kick the field goal.

But the Chiefs remained calm despite their early failure, and stormed back on the field to score a touchdown thanks to some big throws and a 15 yard run by Patrick Mahomes.

The score 3-7, with the Niners down by 4, and our quarterback under some significant pressure in his pocket, Jimmy G succumbed and and tried to throw the ball away — only for it to be picked off by the Chiefs defense. With an opportunity handed to them on a silver platter, the Chiefs took advantage and were able to transform the Niners turnover into a field goal, pushing their lead to 7 points.

In the 49ers’ next possession, however, things ran far smoother: Deebo Samuel and Tevin Coleman both helped take the team down to the 15 yard line, where Garoppolo threw a pass to Juice, or Kyle Jusczcyk, who ran it in for a 49ers touchdown to tie the game at 10-10. Fast forward past the next drive, and here comes two controversies — the first of which was a wildly criticized and utterly blasphemous, I might add, offensive pass interference on George Kittle on a 25 yard pass, which would have brought the Niners into field goal and potentially set up a red zone pass.

Of course, no NFL game is quite complete without a horrible referee call, and unfortunately, the 49ers were on the wrong side of the penalty this time, resulting in a loss of 10 yards, setting the team on their own 35 yard line with six seconds remaining in the half.

The second controversy here was why the 49ers head coach, Kyle Shanahan, decided against utilizing his timeouts and trying to score once more before the end of the half.

However, it was in the third quarter, when the Niners broke open the game and charged ahead with a field goal, pick, and touchdown to make the score 20-10.

Unfortunately, the Chiefs weren’t ready to go away just yet. With nearly 7 minutes left to go in the game, the Chiefs roared back, scoring two quick touchdowns, followed by a third touchdown in garbage time.

But, you know what? Whatever. All season long, the 49ers knew that they had a special team, and proved to all their doubters that they were no joke. And now? Pretenders? Pshh, I think not!  Besides, I’m certain the 49ers will be back next season with a vengeance and an insatiable thirst to take the Super Bowl trophy!