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

Number 4 – Sell out against the run

It’s no secret the Shanahan wants to dominate teams with his extravagant run scheme. He uses more motions than anyone in the league, and all of it has a purpose.

All this pre-snap movement allows gaps to appear out of nowhere. His utilization of fullback Kyle Juszczyk and all-pro tight end George Kittle in the run game usually lead to the two creating these holes that you or I could run through. Then, he doesn’t let up in the second half. He sees how tired the defense looks and he keeps coming with no mercy.

The key will be first down, like it was against Tennessee. If the Chiefs can force San Francisco into second and eight’s, it will force Shanahan to divert from this game plan quite a bit. Steve Spagnuolo’s game plan will be just as interesting to see.

Tennessee ran the ball on 16 of it’s first 20 first downs, according to SB Nation. They ran it rather effectively as well, going up 17-7 in the first half. However, once the Titans shifted their game plan after a double-digit deficit, it was a different story for Henry and their offense.

While the 49ers have more weapons, their quarterback play is just as questionable as the Titans’, which leads to our next key for the Chiefs.

Number 3 – Make Garoppolo prove himself

This goes hand-in-hand with stopping the run game. Garoppolo has thrown the ball 27 times this postseason. He looks the part, he has championship accolades as a backup, but the jury is still out on his postseason performance.

Ryan Tannehill was tasked with this same question and Spanuolo challenged him in the AFC Championship. He met the quota in the first quarter of the game on play action, but when the Titans needed him to bring them back, he failed miserably. Garoppolo seems to be much better than Tannehill, but Spagnuolo needs to make him prove it.

Like most play-action passers, Garoppolo likes to take advantage of the middle of the field, where there are usually no linebackers. He finds Kittle and Deebo Samuel more often than not in between the hashes. However, Kittle has been designated to blocking in the postseason and Samuel has just five total catches.

By stopping the run and winning first down, Garoppolo will have to throw the ball down the field. This will mean Tyrann Mathieu, Bashaud Breeland, Kendall Fuller, and Charvarius Ward will have to be better than Garoppolo and that’s a trade-off that Spagnuolo will take if it means limiting Shanahan’s run game.