Ravens wide receiver Jacoby Jones (12) celebrates his second quarter touchdown against the 49ers with teammates Joe Flacco (5), Torrey Smith (82) and Matt Birk (77) in Super Bowl XLVII game in New Orleans Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013. (Mike Segar/Reuters)
You never know how a team is going to react to the pressure of the Super Bowl, a factor next to impossible to handicap.
With two weeks off to prepare, the external factors are plenty. Hype. Game-planning. Overthinking. And the inevitable nerves that can dig a team into a deep hole.
Perhaps as a reflection of their tightly-wound coach Jim Harbaugh, the 49ers were rattled early on Sunday night, sloppy in the middle and just a hair too far behind in the end. With that in mind, we present our annual "coulda, shoulda, woulda" look at that went wrong for the losers in the Super Bowl as once again the betting favourite went down hard.
