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Originally Posted by Sonoco
Random thoughts from a Niner fan . . .
The 49ers were in a lot of tough games down the stretch after feasting on weak sisters the first half of the season. Six of the last eight games of the season were decided on the last snap of the game. The team was clutch and is battle tested. That said, we were three plays from being undefeated and another three plays from dropping to 10-6.
With a bye after week 3, the defense started to leak oil after Halloween with injuries and better competition but has tightened up with the return of Tartt, Alexander and your friend Dee. It's a fast unit that's very disciplined.
The offense has been pretty steady all year in spite of fighting off a string of short and long-term injuries. A lot of us were very worried when we lost our center Richburg for the year in New Orleans, but Garland has been pretty impressive in relief. Garoppolo has been efficient but seems prone to one bonehead throw per game, usually early in the game, then he settles down.
Just taking a simplistic look at results vs. three common opponents, there's something to take away for both fan bases. KC beat the Ravens at home, we lost in Baltimore. KC lost at GB, we beat them at home (twice). We both handled the Vikings.
Unless the 49ers simply lay an egg (something they haven't come close to doing all year), some of you talking blow-out are dreaming. Safe to assume they stick with what's been working for us what worked for Indy in week five. Run the ball about 40 times, play clean and keep the ball the hell away from Mahomes.
As a Niner fan I think we're playing with house money because we're at least a year ahead of schedule arriving as a legit contender, but kinda caught lightning in a bottle in 2019. So here we are. The team will show up ready as they have all year.
The Chiefs are a great match-up and it's going to be a great game.
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Good post - welcome.
Few things to think about from a Chiefs perspective in your breakdown:
It’s kind of impossible to draw much from the Chiefs matchups against the Vikings and Packers. KC played those games without Mahomes. The fact they managed to beat the Vikings without him kind of saved the season. The Packers game went down to the wire.
(Side note directed at Niners trolls talking about how good the NFC was... Kansas City best one of your playoff contestants with a guy who literally was coaching HS this time last year and nearly beat your No. 2 seed with that same guy - save for a few god-level, vintage Rodgers plays).
Back to the real conversation.
I wouldn’t place too much stock in what the Colts did as a blueprint for stopping KC’s offense. That was the most “injured” the offense has been all year (no Hill or Watkins, Mahomes had a bad ankle that was made worse when sub LT Cam Erving stepped on it, no starting LT).
And the Chiefs run D is especially different from that game. The addition of Mike Pennel at DT and Teresa Suggs at RE gives them a lot more pop up front vs. the run. Reggie Ragland has changed up their LB mix quite a bit (Darron Lee was atrocious against the run and an awful tackler; believe Hitchens also got hurt mid-game).
The Colts and Texans games were the “belly of the whale” moments for this team and the run defense. They are not representative of what KC is now.
The last Raiders game is probably the best thing to look at if you want to get a feel for how KC is playing against the run now. Jacobs had one big run (reason for 49ers optimism) but otherwise averaged 4.3 YPC. And even in that game, KC has yet to add Suggs.
When he and Clark are on the field together, the edge gets set really well on both sides of the line.