Chiefs kicker said the 49ers celebrating after final INT “helped” comeback

We are a week removed from the San Francisco 49ers coming up short in Super Bowl LIV. The Kansas City Chiefs did some trash talking early on in the week, but Frank Clark said, “I feel like he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the league, but you say top-five, I wouldn’t put him top-five. I’d put him up there as one of the top-10 guys, though, for sure.” That was about Jimmy Garoppolo.

There was a video circulating around the internet showing the 49ers defense celebrating prematurely after Tarvaruis Moore’s interception, and Richard Sherman can be seen yelling at his teammates that “this isn’t over yet,” with Dre Greenlaw responding, “Nah, we got this.” I spent 20 minutes trying to find the video, so if you have it, please share it. Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker told NFL Total access that Moore’s interception served as fuel for the Chiefs comeback down ten points:

“Probably that celebration that they had. I know it’s going around on social media. I don’t know what part of the game it was, but they went up, probably by, I guess 10, when they scored the touchdown. And the whole team’s celebrating in the end zone. It might’ve been after an interception. I just felt like the whole mood in the stadium was you know ‘the 49ers won the game.’ That probably helped to our advantage that they were celebrating so much and I think they probably let their guard down a little bit. When you have Patrick Mahomes and our offense, you know we’re gonna score quick — which we did. Defense did a great job and before they knew it, we’re up four and then we’re up 11. But that was kinda sticking in my mind.”

The Chiefs scored a touchdown on the next three possessions, but get out of here if you think that was because the 49ers “celebrated prematurely.” San Francisco, and every team that gets a turnover runs to the end zone to celebrate as a team. We see it all of the time. I’d imagine we wouldn’t have to look long to find a clip of Kansas City doing the same thing.

It is an interesting point from Butker when he talks about the mood of the stadium. It did feel like the game was under control, which is why the loss is so tough to comprehend, even a week later. Either way, we know why the 49ers lost, and celebrating early wasn’t the reason.