At the end of the Super Bowl, there’s usually a postgame handshake between the two head coaches, but that didn’t happen on Sunday following Kansas City’s 25-22 win over San Francisco.
After the Chiefs’ overtime victory, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t shake hands with Andy Reid. Instead, he headed straight for the locker room. Although it looked like it might be a snub on Shanahan’s part, that’s actually not the case.
The 49ers coach was asked about the situation after the game and he said that he had talked with Reid earlier in the week and the two had decided NOT to shake hands after the game since finding someone on the field can be almost impossible, and even if you do find them, they’re usually being mobbed.
“We talked on Monday [Feb. 5],” Shanahan said. “When we played each other last time, it took about 25 minutes to shake his hand. So, we both talked on Monday that regardless of who won, I mean I love Andy, I’m tight with Andy, but we talked both of us are going to do that because it’s too hard to get to each other after these Super Bowls.”
As Shanahan noted, his hand-shake snub has nothing to do with poor sportsmanship and Super Bowl LIV is definitely proof of that. After watching his team blow a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, Shanahan still stuck around for nearly a half-hour to make sure he got to shake Reid’s hand after Kansas City’s 31-20 win.
When the Super Bowl ends, the postgame scene is total chaos and both coaches apparently thought it would be easier not do a handshake after the game.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a postgame handshake make news. Back in Super Bowl LII, Tom Brady famously snubbed Nick Foles following the Eagles’ 41-33 win over the Patriots. To this day, Brady insists that he didn’t do it on purpose.
Although we might not ever know the truth with Brady, we do know that Shanahan did NOT snub Reid after the 49ers’ heartbreaking Super Bowl loss on Sunday.
