DeVonta Freeman, a former standout running back for the Atlanta Falcons, oddly liked a tweet accusing Kyle Shanahan of fixing Super Bowl 51.
Shanahan was the offensive coordinator for the Falcons when they famously lost the Super Bowl 51 to the New England Patriots after blowing a 28-3 halftime lead. New England won 34-28 in overtime after scoring 31 unanswered points.
A lot of people criticized Shanahan for calling plays too aggressively, which gave New England a chance to tie the game. Freeman “liked” a tweet on X in which Shanahan was accused of handing the Patriots the championship game so he could sign QB Jimmy Garoppolo when he moved to San Francisco:
𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚: Former #Falcons RB Devonta Freeman liked a tweet saying Kyle Shanahan lost Super Bowl 51 on purpose to the #Patriots so he could get Jimmy Garoppolo on the #49ers when he officially became head coach.
That’s the only way to explain how they possibly blew a 28-3… pic.twitter.com/iKpXx23YKr
— JPAFootball (@jasrifootball) October 4, 2023
The 49ers acquired Garoppolo from the Patriots before the 2017 trade deadline in exchange for a 2018 second-round choice. Garoppolo would remain with the 49ers through the end of the 2022 season, guiding them to a spot in Super Bowl 54 and a trip to the 2021 NFC Championship.
Naturally, there is no reason to think that Shanahan would deliberately throw a Super Bowl. Atlanta had the advantage, and Shanahan wouldn’t want to drop the crucial contest in order to get Garoppolo away from the Patriots.
There will always be illogical conspiracy ideas in the sports world. But in the end, it comes down to this: The Patriots pulled off the greatest comeback in NFL history. The Falcons staged the biggest collapse in history.