Shanahan reveals lost backpack held $30K worth of Super Bowl tickets
Kyle Shanahan was the talk of Super Bowl media night after briefly losing a backpack that contained the Atlanta Falcons' offensive gameplan.
Instant reaction included concern that his notes could end up in the wrong hands, like those of the New England Patriots, just days before the big game.
The "Backpack Gate" headlines were already writing themselves.
Shanahan, now the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, admitted Monday that he was "panicked" when the bag went missing. His dismay wasn't over the gameplan, though, as the iPad playbook would have needed a password to access.
"(But) that had all my Super Bowl tickets in it for all my friends and family, so it's basically a $30,000 bag of cash that was missing," Shanahan said after his introductory press conference, according to Nick Wagoner of ESPN. "So that was my panic."
After doing several interviews with his mind admittedly elsewhere, Shanahan eventually figured out that it had been a honest mix up, with a Bay Area reporter scooping up the bag thinking it was his own.
He eventually tracked it down and made the switch with Art Spander of the San Francisco Chronicle, getting his bag back with all contents still inside. As it turns out, the offensive mastermind is no stranger to misplacing his possessions.
"The worst part about it is I am a forgetful person, besides football," Shanahan said. "My wallet, I lose regularly. All the quarterbacks, my wife, every friend I've ever had, they're like, 'Of course, you lost the gameplan.' I'm like, 'No I didn't! Someone jacked me, I promise.'
"No one believed me."