Four years ago, the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers faced off in the Super Bowl. The Bay Area was buzzing with anticipation, hoping that the 49ers would bring home San Francisco’s first NFL championship since 1994. Unfortunately, they fell short after blowing a ten-point lead, and Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs quarterback, won his first Super Bowl.
Although the Super Bowl matchup remains the same, quite a bit has changed since then. Star wide receiver Tyreek Hill left the Chiefs two years ago, a big loss for their receiving corps. Although the Chiefs have sorely missed Hill’s reliability, tight end Travis Kelce continues to perform at an elite level and has amassed the most receptions in playoff history. Meanwhile, Mahomes has been nearly perfect in the playoffs, throwing thirty-nine touchdowns with just seven interceptions. The Chiefs won their second Super Bowl without Hill last season, an accomplishment that could result in the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowl titles since Tom Brady’s Patriots in 2003-2004.
On the other side, the 49ers have significantly improved their team. They added second-team All-Pro wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who ranked sixth in the league this season with 1,342 receiving yards. Cornerback Charvarius Ward, another second-team All-Pro, left the Chiefs for the Niners two years ago. They have also shored up their quarterback room, drafting Brock Purdy in the last round of the NFL draft last year, who has been quite the stud and an improvement over Jimmy Garoppolo. However, the biggest addition has undoubtedly been running back Christian McCaffrey, the NFL’s rushing champion and first-team All-Pro. McCaffrey was traded from the Carolina Panthers to San Francisco in the middle of last season.
On January 28th, the 49ers defeated the Lions in the NFC Championship game, a 34-31 win in which San Francisco came back from a seventeen point deficit at halftime. The Lions missed two chances to kick a field goal and score three points, which would have given the Lions six more points and the win. In the Divisional Round, the Niners needed a game-winning drive and a desperate throw by Jordan Love to eke out a three-point win over the Packers.The 49ers will have to be much less sloppy if they want to win the Super Bowl, especially against the Chiefs stout defense.
On the AFC side, the Chiefs won a hard-fought battle on the defensive end, beating the top-seed Baltimore Ravens 17-10 in the AFC Championship game. Prior to that, the Chiefs defeated the Buffalo Bills in their annual close playoff game and also dismantled the Miami Dolphins in the wild-card round. Fortunately for the 49ers, Mahomes threw a career-high fourteen interceptions this season, which they will have to take advantage of to win.
Brock Purdy, the 49ers second-year quarterback, is the third-youngest quarterback to play in the Super Bowl. Purdy has been inconsistent in his few postseason games. This year, he has a passer rating of 87.7 in the playoffs, compared to Mahomes’ superior rating of 100.7. But Purdy is the glue that holds the 49ers together, and if he can continue to play that role, they have a real shot at winning their first Super Bowl in thirty years.
Overall, the Niners are the more talented team, as they were four years ago, but they have a young and unproven leader on the big stage. Nonetheless, they also have star players that can make it happen when they need it most. The Chiefs rely on their star quarterback, a two-time Super Bowl winner, to make plays. These are two polar opposite squads, but they meet at the mountaintop as the two best teams in the National Football League.
