<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">There&#39;s only one man left who can stop Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs... <a href="https://t.co/5AETZbeygc">pic.twitter.com/5AETZbeygc</a></p>&mdash; NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) <a href="https://twitter.com/NFL_Memes/status/1752082078110196142?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

yah. The SF defense on paper is pretty impressive. On the field, they just aren't that scary. Individual players are/can be scary, but schematically they aren't very impressive. If Spags was running that defense, it'd be the best in the league, top-2 at worst. But it's Wilks, and he's just not a great DC. Very average, imo.

Healthier OL and better defense this time around. Hopefully no terrible off-the-field accidents right before the game like the last time with Coach Reid's son. That situation created a dark cloud and massive distraction for the team.

They sound like they should be good. Arik Armstead used to be an underrated DE. Javon Hargrave has been a productive DT. Chase Young was the #2 pick. Randy Gregory is a name people know.

But that DL doesn’t produce like its names suggest it should.

Only one team blitzed less than the 49ers this season, so complicated blitz schemes are not in their DNA. That’s not an easy thing to just wrinkle in, even with an extra week.

You’ve got a zone team that is used to getting home with 4. Which is kind of the worst possible base defense to have vs. Mahomes and Reid.

They’re going to make you break your rules, and then they’re going to make you pay for the break.

According to a couple of the talking heads on ESPN, SF's DL has been up and down in their play this season. The couple games I watched parts of, they just didn't look that good. Individually, Bosa, sometimes Young, sometimes Armstead or Hargrave would make some plays, but nothing consistent. And it was always a 1v1 type deal; they didn't seem to try to scheme things for Bosa, for example.



I have seen them play man, specifically against SEA when they had Chav take DK 1v1. So they will do it. And frankly as good as their secondary is, you'd think they'd do it more often, but as you say, they live in a zone scheme, so they don't do it very often. And I agree; it's not a good base to work from vs. KC.

"Playing lefthanded" is a term you used to see with Belichick a lot and it's something Spags has been great at this season.

I can't piss standing up lefthanded. I don't imagine the 49ers are much better at trying to play football that way.

I just feel like coaching is a massive x-factor that won't be discussed much heading into this matchup. I think we have an enormous advantage there.

The last 7:13 of Super Bowl 54 is the ultimate example of that. The moment Mahomes and Reid started breaking their Cover 3, Saleh had no answer whatsoever.

The defining play that showed how cooked the Niners were was when they finally sent a blitz (this was a couple plays after Mahomes evaded a sack from Bosa when they were rushing four). Williams picked up the blitz with ease and Mahomes roasted Richard Sherman who had no business at all covering Sammy Watkins 1 on 1.

I don't think I'd call their secondary good besides Ward.

Their secondary doesn’t have their enforcer/playmaker anymore in Hufanga. There will be plenty of room to expose it. Have to keep the pass protection on point.

you may be right. Not like I know their entire secondary. I know about Ward and Hufanga more than anyone else. But they aren't "bad."

Missing Hufanga messed their secondary up quite a bit. Gipson's an absolute shell of himself and the rest of that secondary wasn't good on its best day. Samuel Womack looked like a good story during parts of the 2022 season but he fell all to shit in a hurry.

That secondary is flat out bad. And I don't think Dre Greenlaw's actually all that good. Good athlete so he's solid in space. Willing hitter so he's not a pushover against the run but he's not exactly a tank at the point of attack; undersized guy.

That back 7 is essentially Warner, Ward and JAGS.

If I could have our pass-catchers vs. their DBs or their pass-catchers vs. our DBs, I'd take the former. I think our guys will find more space against their lousy secondary than theirs will against our far sturdier unit.

I really do think the 49ers offense will have to be what I thought Buffalos will have to be. It'll need to be Kittle and CMC. The difference is that I don't thing Aiyuk will drop the ball Diggs did (though Deebo and Shakir are really similar players in a lot of ways).

Man, I just think we're better than these guys.

Dammit! You beat me to it.

Stupid wordy DJLN...

Kinda feels like we have a great player (or players) everywhere that the 49ers struggle.

No great safefty? Kelce
No great interior pass protector? Jones
Susceptible run defense along the DL? Pacheco with this interior OL
Rookie K? Butker
Unproven limited QB? Spags and this secondary
Predictable DC? Reid and Mahomes

The games I've watched this season, they just don't use Kittle much except to keep him in to block in most games. I tried to figure out what they usage was going to be half a dozen times so I could bet on Kittle's production, but after losing too much $$$ because Shanahan just never put him out there, I gave up.


I think Kittle will underperform in the SB, not because he's a bad player (obviously he's not that), but because Shanahan just won't put him out there enough to matter in the passing game.

49ers fans still argue on reddit that having him as a blocker to DANIEL SORENSON on their failed 4th quarter drive was smarter than using him as a receiver.