Chiefs’ Steve Spagnuolo reveals he got Nick Bolton’s input on pivotal Super Bowl play
The San Francisco 49ers had a chance to seize control of Super Bowl LVIII with two minutes to play in regulation.
Facing third-and-5 from the Chiefs’ 35-yard line, the 49ers could have run down a lot of the clock if they had picked up a first down. Instead, Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie blitzed and tipped a pass from San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy.
The 49ers kicked a field goal to take the lead, but the Chiefs had more than enough time to drive for a game-tying field goal.
It was the perfect call from defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo at the perfect time.
“Coach Spags dialed it up and every time he dials up a blitz for me, I know it’s gonna work,” McDuffie told me after the game in a joyous Chiefs locker room. “I got a lot of trust in him. I’m just happy I was able to help the back end because I know it’s hard in cover zero.”
As The Star’s Jesse Newell noted, the Chiefs were in a Quarter Defense, an alignment they’d used just 10 times during the season and just three times in the postseason.
But that wasn’t the original call.
Spagnuolo told NBC Sports’ Peter King that he had changed calls after the 49ers let the clock tick down to 2 minutes. At that point, Spagnuolo asked linebacker Nick Bolton about switching up things.
“Let me tell you a story about the game, and about Nick. Remember the third-and-(five) play for San Francisco with about 2:20 to play in the fourth quarter?” Spagnuolo told King. “They got the ball (at the Chiefs’ 35-yard line), and I make a call that’s basically the same call that Chris Jones got the third-down pressure on Purdy in overtime — a pressure with four linemen. But now San Francisco lets the clock run down to the two-minute warning. I’m thinking, this is a fourth-down play. I look down at the fourth-down call sheet, and I see a play I like.
“We got some time. I get on the headset, and I ask Nick, ‘What do you think about this play?’ I tell him — it’s a play with max DBs and only two defensive linemen, with Trent McDuffie blitzing. I see Nick nodding his head. He likes the play. So I change it. We change personnel. But that’s the thing about Nick — we’ve built up this trust. I trust him, he trusts me. When he nodded, I knew it was the right call.”
And it was as the 49ers were denied an opportunity to run down the clock.
