Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan already learned a very valuable lesson during his first trip to the Super Bowl — never let important possessions out of your sight.
For a brief period at Super Bowl Opening Night on Monday, Shanahan had no idea where his backpack was. To say that the contents of the bag were important would be an understatement, as it contained a copy of the Falcons playbook, Super Bowl tickets and some other personal items.
“I’m stressed out right now,” Shanahan revealed while speaking with reporters, per Dan Graziano of ESPN.com. “Somebody took my bag, and it had everything in it.”
Fortunately, no one had intentionally stolen the backpack. After Shanahan searched for about 15 minutes, USA Today’s Jarrett Bell discovered that San Francisco Examiner columnist Art Spander had accidentally picked up Shanahan’s bag thinking it was his own. The bag was returned to Shanahan with all of its contents still inside.
Cue the Patriots cheating jokes. The timing could not have been more perfect, as a report from earlier in the day claimed one rival coach used to shred his gameplans before facing Bill Belichick out of fear that they might be stolen. Had Shanahan not recovered his backpack so quickly, #PlaybookGate would be in full swing by now.
