49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan didn't expect the call he made on the final play of Sunday's 26-23 overtime win over the Cincinnati Bengals to result in a touchdown, but wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk wound up giving him an unexpected surprise.
Shanahan spoke to reporters after the game about the play, which was a 12-yard touchdown pass to Aiyuk from Jimmy Garoppolo coming out of the two-minute warning in overtime. Shanahan said he was hoping the play would lead to a short yardage situation near the goal line, but Aiyuk caught the pass, ran inside the 4, then made a jump to the end zone that resulted in the game-winning score.
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"I think they were playing man coverage," Shanahan said. "It was just a situation where we got back down there and it was first down so they could honor the run, and we just ran a bootleg and brought Aiyuk across. I didn't expect it to score. I thought it would hopefully get us inside the three, but the move that he made was unbelievable. I still don't know how he got in. I didn't really trust it until they made it official."
The play wasn't ruled a touchdown at first. But officials reversed that call after studying the replay, which showed Aiyuk did not step out of bounds before he crossed the goal line. Aiyuk himself wasn't sure if he had scored on the play but grew confident after seeing the footage.
"I didn't know that I was in," Aiyuk said. "I looked at the ref. He seemed pretty straight I was not in. A lot of challenges haven't been going my way the past couple of weeks. I was a little bit nervous, but when I saw the replay I knew I was in."
While Shanahan and Aiyuk weren't sure at first if the play was a touchdown, other players were more confident. One of them was Garoppolo, who was given a hint on what happened when he heard the reaction of 49ers fans in the stands.
"I had a good idea," Garoppolo said. "I was talking to some guys as the replay was going. I kind of heard our fans out of the back of my ear. They were going nuts, and I had a pretty good feeling at that point."
Tight end George Kittle was 100 percent sure Aiyuk was in, which proved to be a more accurate assessment than what he heard from a nearby official.
"I knew he was in," Kittle said. "It was fun too—the ref told me there was a zero percent chance he was in. I was like, 'Ahhh I don't about that one. I wouldn't say zero.' But just kudos to Brandon. He ran the heck out of that and it was like a little speed burst at the end to be able to get in there. So it was a hell of a play by him, a hell of a play call by Kyle."
Garoppolo said he was targeting Aiyuk on the play, and then Aiyuk took care of the rest after that.
"BA was the first look," Garoppolo said. "I saw him break open and he hit the jets after that. I haven't seen him move that fast in a while."
Aiyuk told reporters he had an edge on the defenders who were pursuing him, then he did something he's been instructed not to do—although it worked out in the end.
"I kind of just felt like as I was running that way, whoever it was, he didn't really have a good angle and he was kind of behind me," Aiyuk said. "We're not really supposed to reach the ball for the pylon unless it's for a down, but nobody said anything to me when I scored."
The touchdown was a high point in what has been an up-and-down season for Aiyuk. He was a surprise non-factor in the offense earlier in the year, but the 2020 first-round pick has emerged as the season has progressed. He had six catches for 62 yards to go with his touchdown on Sunday, another sign that he has a bright future with the 49ers after a shaky start to the 2021 campaign.
"He's a young guy and he's everything we hoped he would be in terms of the person and the talent, and there's a lot more there," Shanahan said. "He's getting better each week. That was a hell of a deal by him. He didn't get a lot of balls I don't think throughout the game, but every time he did, he made a hell of a play to be able to finish right there. Just what he's done throughout this year, he's continued to get better. And there's a lot more in there, so that's a good thing for the 49ers."
