Super Bowl LIV has finally arrived, and it does not look to disappoint on any level. The San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs will be facing off against each other that features one of the league’s best defensive lines against one of the league’s best quarterbacks. This entire the 49ers have been flexing their muscle as the best team in the NFL by blowing out their opponents behind the legs of their stout running backs. For the Chiefs, their postseason has been filled with turning double digit deficits into double digit victories. Both teams are ready to collide into one another with their own strengths, but something has got to give.
The 49ers have developed a formula this postseason that has worked effectively: Run the ball, play great defense and keep the quarterback out of the way. The funny thing about this is that Niners QB Jimmy Garoppolo is not a bad quarterback at all. In fact, he is a big reason they are in the playoffs right now. However, the way San Fran is playing on the defensive line, and running the ball, is much greater and damaging to opponents. San Francisco has already shown the league that they have the best defensive line in football during these playoffs. They racked up 9 sacks in both games, including 6 against the Minnesota Vikings. Still, their ground game is what has taken center stage for these playoff wins. Running backs Tevin Coleman and Raheem Mostert have terrorized the Vikings and Green Bay Packers defense, respectively. Coleman ran over the Vikings for 105 yards while Mostert had himself a huge game of 220 yards rushing against the Packers.
The Kansas City Chiefs had a weird fascination this postseason of toying with teams, by spotting them head starts and then dusting them. In both games this postseason, the Chiefs fell behind on double digit leads and somehow came back to win by near-blowout margins. Against the Houston Texans, the Chiefs were down 24-0 and scored 41 straight points in their comeback. They fell behind the following week against the Tennessee Titans and were able to beat them by a big lead with another scoring streak. A lot of this can be credited to Kansas City having 2018 MVP Pat Mahomes as their QB. It also helps when you have Tyreek Hill at wide receiver, a weapon that can outrun everyone on the field.
San Francisco has managed to rise to the top of the NFC as a very complete team; but they have had some bumps along the way. Their losses have come against the Seattle Seahawks, Baltimore Ravens and Atlanta Falcons, which were all close games. They have a tendency to hang with you, as evidenced by the game in New Orleans in which tight end George Kittle had a huge catch and run to set up the game winning field goal; or they can blow it late in the game as they did with the Atlanta Falcons. The 49ers are 5-3 in games decided by 7 points or less, which is obviously good, but those 3 losses can signify vulnerability with the Niners when they are under pressure. Their best chance of alleviating that pressure is putting the ball in Mostert or Coleman’s hands. However, Coleman suffered a should injury in the NFC title game and will not be suiting, which leaves the door open for running back Matt Breida to step in when needed.
Kansas City has continued to be a menacing offensive threat while going through their own obstacles, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. The team was nothing to write home about defensively last season and finished 17th on that side of the ball this year. However, a large part of that was due to injuries and things picked up a little bit towards the end of the year when people got healthier. In their first 10 games, this unit gave up at least 30 points 4 times; after that stretch, they only gave up over 20 points just once. Defensive tackle Chris Jones missed a couple of games early on, but when he returned, his presence along the defensive line was greatly felt. Safety Tyrann Mathieu has helped this secondary rise to 8th in the league, with his hard-hitting style and team leading 4 picks.
When it comes down to everything between these two teams, the Chiefs are going to be the winners of this Super Bowl. With Kansas City, they have Mahomes leading their explosive offense, but the defense is likely going to set the tone. They know what they have in front of them and what to expect, which is a lethal ground attack by the 49ers. The argument against this, is that San Francisco has a whole stable of running backs to carry them through the game. However, if you go back to the game against the Texans, it was a kick return that sparked the Chiefs’ run of 7 straight touchdown drives. Against the Titans, it was the 24 yard catch and run by Demarcus Robinson, which helped set up the 20 yard touchdown for Tyreek Hill. Their next possession was a 27 yard touchdown run by Mahomes. The point I’m making is that this team has explosiveness from a lot of places and have exhibited such tendencies. San Francisco faced some good offenses this postseason, but they have also had some issues against mobile QB’s such as Russell Wilson and Lamar Jackson. Mahomes does not run with the ball as well as them, but he can be equally damaging when scrambling, or moving out of the pocket, and that can make for some dangerous times for this 49ers defense. There is a good chance that this game may become a shootout; a situation the Chiefs might want to put the 49ers quarterback in and probably leaving him on the short end of the stick. Therefore, I’m going to stick with Kansas City to carry the Lombardi trophy.