It is finally Championship Week! The Chiefs have not been here in near 50 years, while the 49ers are making their second trip this decade. Both have creative and versatile offense with multiple pass catching weapons and stiff offensive lines. The defenses have created myriad problems for opponents, especially once the main characters have made a return (Dee Ford of SF, Clark and Jones for KC).
When Kansas City has the Ball: What is so exciting to me about this game is the matchup of strength versus strength. San Francisco has a powerful defense. It all starts up front, where there are six quality starters. The linebackers are rangy and tough, led by Fred Warner. Richard Sherman anchors the defensive back end a few feisty second fiddles in Williams and Mosely, and Tartt pairs with Ward to make a dangerous safety group. This defense has absolutely no weakness. The Kansas City offense has the same style. When healthy, the offensive line is one of the best at pass blocking. Kelce is a dominant tight end, with Tyreek Hill being lightning in a bottle. When Sammy Watkins and Mecole Hardman make your third and fourth looks, you have weapons. It is almost unfair for Mahomes to have all this at his disposal, especially when Andy Reid is calling the shots. This is the coach who made McNabb look like a Hall of Famer (who them flamed out with Washington and Minnesota), game planned Kevin Kolb into a 5 year, $60 million flame out deal with Arizona, and resurrected Michael Vick (who then flamed out with Pittsburgh). Not only that, but he took a San Francisco cast off in Alex Smith and won 4 division titles with him at the helm. To finally have a player of Mahomes caliber running his team tilts the field in Kansas City’s favor. Slight advantage 49ers.
When San Francisco has the Ball: Not to be outdone, the 49ers O and Chief’s D are both very good as well. Jimmy G has performed very well for his team without having to carry it. He makes some bad mistakes at times, and needs to read the defense better, something which will be difficult with Spagnuolo creating blitz packages. Raheem Mostert showed his talent last game. He loves playing the Packers. He not only set NFL records on route to 220 yards and 4 TDs in the NFC Championship game, but he was still little more than a bounce-around cast-off when he ran for 87 yards on 12 carries against them last year. He is FAST. His collegiate 60 meter dash is faster than even Tyreek Hill’s, whose speed we have talked about before. The linebacking corps for Kansas City may have to keep Darron Lee ready to go simply for his speed. The front line has three first rounders blocking, and have proven to create wide run lanes and pass block admirably. Chris Jones and Frank Clark must have good games and create pressure while shutting down the run to keep the score down. Emmanuel Sanders may go down as one of the better in-season trades in recent memory. He pulled coverage away from Kittle and Samuel with his crafty route running and veteran knowledge of the game. But Kittle is a beast in his own right. Tyrann Mathieu is the glue in the Chiefs back end, and easily their best player. As amazingly as Daniel Sorensen has played the last two games (seriously, he has hade over a half dozen impact plays), he is outmatched physically and athletically. He will have to play predictive and smart to stay on top of this offense. Advantage San Fran.
Outcome?: If there is any defense made to halt KC, it is this one. A Hall of Famer at CB with multiple Pro Bowl performances elsewhere in the secondary, two fast and thumping LBs, and stacked D Line to create pressure and disrupt passing and running lanes. Shanahan will scheme wins for his O against Spagnuolo, Reid and Mahomes will still get theirs, but it will be too little, and Mahomes may have an actual terrible day. It depends on Kelce. A lot of flags to thrown against his defender. If Warner, Tartt, Ward, Kwon, and Greenlaw play him tight yet clean, this offense will slow considerably. 31-17, San Francisco takes home another Lombardi.
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