Kansas City Chiefs: Six things to watch vs 49ers in Super Bowl LIV
CHIEFS RUN DEFENSE
The horse has been beaten quite to death that the Niners are primarily a running team. If you had asked me about how I felt about facing a run first type of team in the Super Bowl back in October, I would have told you the Chiefs didn’t stand a chance.
The Chiefs defense has improved drastically since then, holding Derrick Henry to 69 yards last week and all week long heading into that game we heard about the great Derrick Henry. People might say that the reason the Chiefs held Henry to only 69 yards is because the Titans had to play from behind, and that is true, but he was stopped on several key first down attempts and last year’s Chiefs defense/the first half of 2019 Chiefs defense isn’t making those stops.
The 49ers have proved in their first two playoff games that they would like nothing better than to spend three and a half hours jamming the ball down the opposition throats. They’re probably hoping Jimmy Garoppolo barely has to break a sweat in that Miami heat as he hands the ball off play after play. It is up to a very much improved Chiefs defense to take away their ability to do so.
I know I just bragged about Jimmy G’s ability to pass in the section above, and I stand by it, but like Mahomes’ ability to run, it is a good tool to have in the belt. Teams don’t want to have to try and win a game with it.
The Chiefs stand a much better chance at winning if they are able to take away the run and force Garoppolo to pass and beat them, and that all starts at the defensive line. Everyone is scared of the 49ers defensive line, as they should be, but the Chiefs defensive line wasn’t exactly picked off the local peewee football team.
The defensive line will be fully healthy, and every time those running backs of the Niners get the rock, they will come face to face with the likes of Frank Clark and Stone Cold Chris Jones, making sure that there is zero real estate available. If they happen to break into the secondary, a mad Honey Badger named Tyrann Mathieu will be waiting to claw them up and possibly claw that ball from their grasp.