The San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs were a combined 25-7 in the regular season this year, and each has staked a claim to being the best team in the NFL. With Super Bowl LIV just one week away, here’s an incredibly quick, probably far-too-obvious primer on how each team can lift the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the night.
San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers took the league by storm this year, launching themselves into title contention just twelve months after a mediocre four-win season. They’re basically what the Cleveland Browns wished they were, and now find themselves on the biggest stage in football. Jimmy Garoppolo has done enough, sure, but the strength of this team isn’t a secret: its defense. The 49ers defense – a unit led by Nick Bosa and the ever-confident Richard Sherman – has been nearly unstoppable this year. The team’s strong defensive line has proven to be a handful for opposition players, and its secondary has come up with big plays when it counts.
The 49ers blueprint in the Super Bowl should look the same as it has most of the season: run the ball, ask Garoppolo to make the important throws when he needs to, and rely on the defense to keep the lead. The formula most recently worked just last week in the NFC Championship against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, and the Chiefs have had slow starts in each round of the playoffs so far. If the 49ers can take the lead and take it early on, they can utilize the strength of their team and not force Garoppolo to do too-much. After all, he’s only passed for a total of 208 yards and one touchdown this postseason. Getting the Chiefs’ gear shipped to the wrong state would help their cause as well.
Kansas City Chiefs
After being bounced from the playoffs last season at the hands of the eventual-champion New England Patriots, the Chiefs didn’t take anyone by surprise this year. Most analysts expected them to be Super Bowl contenders, and they’ve delivered on that expectation. The Chiefs’ offense operates at a different speed – even great defenses have struggled mightily to contain them. The defense isn’t anything to write home about, but it really doesn’t need to be when you’ve got Patrick Mahomes quarterbacking an offense that includes Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill.
The Chiefs offense is the poster child of explosiveness. Time and time again, they move down the field as easily as if they were playing an online university that’s just been granted a DIII football program. It looks effortless. Even Andy Reid and his constant clock management mishaps can’t stop them. Patrick Mahomes is one of those players in sports who can be an equalizer in any game against any opponent. He’s always a threat. That said, he needs to get his team on the board early against the 49ers, because a 24 point comeback is far less likely against San Francisco than it was against Houston. Tyreek Hill can help with that – his speed will be a nightmare for Richard Sherman and the 49ers secondary, and will open up some field for Travis Kelce and others.
The Prediction
I think the 49ers will have the edge in game-planning, and they’ll come out of the gate strong. After two drives, I see them with a 10-0 edge over Kansas City, and I actually think San Francisco will have a narrow lead going into halftime. That’s where it ends though. Once the teams come back onto the filed after what’s sure to be an unnecessarily-lengthy halftime show, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense will simply overwhelm the California side. Final score prediction for this one: Kansas City 31, San Francisco 27.