Kansas City Chiefs: Five keys to victory in Super Bowl LIV

Here we go! The Kansas City Chiefs are in Super Bowl LIV. While the moment is a tremendous feat for the franchise, there’s a game to play. The San Francisco 49ers are loaded with talent across the board and are coached by a genius.

There’s a lot on the line on Sunday, where Kansas City Chiefs fans will be gathered holding their breaths. A loss would make getting to the Super Bowl seem a little less important and it would force fans to reconsider if the franchise has, in fact, gotten over the postseason hump.

The NFC Champion 49ers are no joke. They are led by a mastermind in a flat-bill who has ran over his competition all the way to the biggest game of the year, very similar to his father. Head coach Kyle Shanahan has wrecked the league in a completely different way than the Chiefs. He’s used two undrafted free agents in Raheem Mostert and Matt Breida along with former Atlanta backup Tevin Coleman to form the most dynamic ground game in the NFL.

Besides the extravagant run game, the 49ers boast one of the best defenses in the league featuring rookie Nick Bosa on the edge and veteran Richard Sherman in the secondary.

Pair this with a solid showing from quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and you have an incredibly well-balanced team from top to bottom. San Francisco absolutely destroyed Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers on their run to Super Bowl LIV and if the Chiefs aren’t careful, they have the ability to do the same thing to them.

Here are the five keys to ensuring the Niners don’t add another championship to their storied franchise.

Number 5 – Don’t get in another early hole

Just like the Chiefs, San Francisco is in this game for a reason. If Kansas City finds themselves in another early deficit, it will be much harder to come back from.

The Chiefs have been outscored 31-7 in the first quarter in their two postseason games. If that trend continues, San Francisco is too good of an opponent to just let the Chiefs recapture momentum as quick as the Texans and Titans allowed them to. This is due to multiple reasons.

While the Titans had the best running back in the playoffs, the 49ers have the best running scheme. In fact, their elaborate game plan led to Jimmy Garoppolo only throwing eight times against Green Bay. With 285 yards on the ground, dominated by Mostert’s 7.8 yards per rush, San Francisco was able to punch their ticket to Miami after the first half. The Niners could use that same strategy to send the Chiefs packing.

The second problem with getting down multiple scores early is the 49ers defense. Houston and Tennessee, arguably, were the worst defenses in the playoffs once it kicked off. Not taking away anything that the Chiefs offense accomplished, but the Niners defense is different. They are fueled by emotion, something the Chiefs defense shares in common.

The defensive line feeds off one another, and if they know Andy Reid will have to resort to abandoning the run game, they could wreak havoc in the backfield. If they smell blood in the water, they are more than capable of sealing the Chiefs’ fate.