The Kansas City Chiefs enter the Super Bowl as they have the last two playoff games. As underdogs. Two-point underdogs in this case. Accross the field from them will be the San Francisco 49ers. A team that has had a consistent season and only had about a three-game stretch where they didn’t look good because of injuries.
This isn’t the first matchup in the Super Bowl for these teams as they met in 2020, where the Chiefs won 31-20. These aren’t the same teams as the 2019–20 season though, the Chiefs had future Hall of Famer and current Miami Dolphin Tyreek Hill. The 49ers had Jimmy Garapolo at quarterback who’s currently a backup QB on the Las Vegas Raiders.
There are three simple yet hard things the 49ers could do to help them win this time.
For one they will need to contain the outside but also make sure the interior defensive linemen stay in their reserved gaps. Mahomes is one of the best-scrambling QBs. Moving around the pocket and finding his receivers has become his bread and butter.
Second would be to stop Travis Kelce, the statistically greatest tight end of all time, who even at 34 years old is arguably the best tight end of all football. He recently passed Jerry Rice for the most playoff catches of all time. Kelce has made a living by running his own type of routes. By that I mean he kind of improvises his routes and won’t run a real “route”.
Third and finally, the 49ers will have to RUN the ball, in 2020 they stopped running the ball and ended up choking their lead in the fourth quarter.
On the other side, the Kansas City Chiefs defense will have their hands full with the loaded 49ers offense. The first thing they will need to do is get pressure on 49ers QB Brock Purdy, he hasn’t played well against teams who make him uncomfortable and hit him after the play and light him up on sacks.
Secondly, they will need to stop the 49ers’ lethal run game specifically the All-Pro running backs Christian McCaffrey & running back / wide receiver Deebo Samuel. The 49ers have averaged over 140 rushing yards a game. They average almost five yards every time they run the ball. Put another way, it’s a first-down every two rushing plays.
Lastly, the Chiefs will have to be more physical than the 49ers, the Niners are known as one of the most physical teams in the league but when matched with the same physicality they don’t rise up and normally fold so this will be key.
Taking everything into account this year’s Super Bowl is set up to be a classic.
