Several people have laid out the pros and cons and its clearly, CLEARLY tilted in favor of deferring. Its not guesswork, or hindsight. The hindsight only strengthens it. Honestly, going with 'hindsight' is just a cop out. Some people just feel the need to defend something, just to defend it. Despite if failing miserably in front on 128 million people. Quoting a guy who has 'analytics' in a situation that has 1 actual occurrence is kinda bizarre. Theres just no way to logically say its in any way, shape or form beneficial to take the ball first. Not in this format. He pulled those numbers completely out his you know what.
But not all things are equal and some things coaches will weigh heavier than others. I tend to think SF wasn't going to win in OT either way because Mahomes was gonna do his thing regardless. And he did.
Shanahan claims he made the decision before the game to take the ball first if theres overtime. So he technically didnt weigh anything from a situational standpoint. Im not sure how you can allege theres factors that make you go one way or another, but the dummy said he made the decision prior to the game. He doesnt even say the right words, much less make the right decision when it matters.
I tend to think coaches will defer in the future, but I think over a long period of time, the outcomes will be pretty close to 50% like it's been in the past in other formats.
You wont see another coach take the ball first. Youll never see that stat. The outcomes will never get close to 50 50, because it wont happen again. Shanahan took it on the chin so no other coach has to.