Longtime Bill Belichick advisor Ernie Adams, a partner in all six New England Patriots Super Bowl wins, says the San Francisco 49ers made the wrong call in this year’s Big Game.

The 49ers won the coin toss for overtime and elected to take the ball and went on to lose 25-22 to the Kansas City Chiefs. Adams, who had been involved in nine Super Bowls overall under Belichick, explained what he would have done during former Patriots receiver Julian Edleman‘s “Games With Names” podcast on Tuesday.

“My text I sent to Bill right then is: This is the first time in the National Football League history the right call on winning the coin toss is, ‘We want to kick. We want to kick. We want to go on defense first,’” Adams told Edelman.

“The big reason: You know what you need and you know that you’re in four-down territory all the way because if it comes up fourth down, you can go for it. If you know you’re going to be going for it on fourth down, that changes the way you can call the game on first, second and third down,” Adams added.

San Francisco scored first after taking the ball, but the 49ers only mustered a field goal after quarterback Brock Purdy‘s pass sailed incomplete. Niners kicker Jake Moody didn’t get to be the hero after the 27-yard field goal as Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes engineered a game-winning drive.

“I’d rather have the ball second so I know what I need,” Adams said.

Despite all of San Francisco’s success on defense, the 49ers couldn’t make one final stop amid a failed fourth-and-one and one third-and-six on that drive. The 49ers came up short as Mahomes executed a wide-open three-yard touchdown pass to little-known wide receiver Mecole Hardman.

Kyle Shanahan Stood by His Decision
Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan stood by the decision afterward. He also noted the defense had just played through an 11-play drive before overtime.

“I don’t think that changes anything. We did it with our analytics department. We decided that going into the playoffs, I think you guys know how I’ve explained how I make decisions with that stuff in the past,” Shanahan told reporters on February 11.

“I take all the information I can get, especially ones I haven’t been in, and our analytics felt that was the best way to go. But as you guys know, I don’t always just go with that,” Shanahan added. “I take into account what they say, what they think is right, and then I go off my gut in the heat of battle and I knew what they felt going into it.”

“And when I think about that during the moments I have to make the decision, I think the type of game it was did match what they felt was the best way to do. It did seem more like a field goal game,” Shanahan continued. “And our defense had been out there for a real long time right before that. So, I didn’t feel at all to override that at the time.”