Chiefs Biggest Challenges Against San Francisco

Laddie Morse

The Kansas City Chiefs and their fans may feel like they’ve been there before and done that when going up against the 49ers in the Super Bowl next week. Not only because they played, and beat, them last  season in Week 7, 44-to-23, but because they played and beat them four years ago in SB LIV, 31-to-20. Now, the 49ers are 2 point favorites once again – when will the odds makers ever learn – but there are considerations to be taken into account before you go laying down your hard earned money on this game. Specifically, there are challenges the Chiefs must deal with before they can count themselves champions once again.

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Kyle Shanahan

There’s a good reason Kyle Shanahan is featured on the cover of this story. He’s made good on his time in the league and he has a .557 winning percentage as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers with a 64-and-51 regular season record. He also owns a .727 winning percentage in the post season and that’s the record Chiefs fans should likely pay the most attention to. However, there’s also an article out there called, “Kyle Shanahan fourth quarter record: Inside the 49ers coach’s struggles when trailing in 4th quarter” for the sportingnews.com and the article s written by, Bryan Murphy and he says,

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“… when it comes to trailing entering the fourth quarter, the 49ers have lost a heck of a lot more than they have won…. Entering the fourth quarter, the top seed in the NFC was trailing 21-14 to the Packers. In order to avoid a major upset and keep its season alive, San Francisco had to rally. History was certainly not on its side. Before the game against Green Bay, San Francisco had never won a game under Shanahan when trailing by five or more points entering the fourth quarter, going 0-30 in those contests.

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Prior to the game against the Packers (in the playoffs) they had never won a game under Shanahan when trailing at the beginning of the 4th quarter:

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While this may be good news from a Chiefs Kingdom standpoint, it may also symbolize the turning of the tide and Shanahan may have now learned how to win late in games. Let’s hope that’s not the case.

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Chiefs Injuries

With Charles Omenihu out for the Super Bowl, and LG Joe Thuney iffy to come back in and be ready to rumble next week, the Chiefs may have opened up some holes in their interior that could cost them in this game. However, LG replacement, Nick Allegretti played on 100% of the offensive snaps vs the Ravens and did an outstanding job. The replacement for Omenihu could end up being Felix Anudike-Uzomah (FAU), a rookie. FAU has been in on 20%, or 218, of the Chiefs defensive snaps in the 2023 season. If he can get some productive snaps in this game, it bodes well for the Chiefs and FAU heading into the 2024 season. If he balls out, it may mean that K.C. will make cutting ties with Chris Jones a much easier task.

While the Chiefs injuries could end up being a challenging situation, if Steve Spagnuolo can cover the loss of Omenihu, it should present any ongoing issues. With Mike Pennel in on 33% 0f the snaps against the Ravens, I would think he’ll get even more snaps with Omenihu out. Malik Herring was in on 23% of the D Snaps and should get more in this game as well. Nick Ferrel was in on 9% of the snaps so he’s another possibility.

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49ers Attack

When K.C. faced off against the 49ers last year it was in San Francisco and Christian McCaffrey had just been traded to them from the Panthers. This past season, McCaffrey got much more comfortable in Kyle Shanahan’s offense and had 1,459 yards rushing. To add to that, McCaffrey had 564 yards receiving so his overall numbers were, 2,023 yards from scrimmage. Christian McCaffrey may be the biggest challenge for the Chiefs to deal with, especially on Defense. McCaffrey also leads all current RBs in rushing TDs with 4.

On the receiving end of things, Brandon Aiyuk had an excellent year. He gained 1,342 through the air and perhaps more importantly, he averaged over 17 yards per reception (YPR). Tight end George Kittle had more than 1,000 yards receiving for the 49ers in 2023 and he averaged 15.69 YPR. Will the 49ers attack be a problem for K.C. to handle?

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Brock Purdy

If there young QB, Brock Purdy is able to get the ball out of his hands quickly they should have a chance. Purdy played in 16 games this year with 4,280 passing yards which works out to 267.5 yards per game. He had 31 TD passes but was intercepted 11 times with 6 fumbles. Hopefully the pressure of playing in his first Super Bowl will be overwhelming to him and he will make some mistakes. Purdy made the Pro Bowl this season so he is not to be taken lightly. If the Chiefs — and Steve Spagnuolo — can get pressure on him, it should help their cause tremendously. Purdy is 6-foot-1, 220 lbs. is 24 years old, played college ball at Iowa State University and was also Mr. Irrelevant, meaning, he was he last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. Purdy is not to be taken lightly and his Passer Rating in the regular season is: 113.0 while his Post Season Passer Rating is 111.4.

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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