All the smoke from Championship weekend is behind us and two teams remain. The Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. The Chiefs seated the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 yesterday, while the 49ers captured a monumental comeback against the Detroit Lions. So what’s the story line heading into the Super Bowl match up? Well, there are a few.
New vs Old
The Kansas City Chiefs have a chance to win their third Super Bowl in five seasons, cementing themselves as a dynasty in the NFL record books. They have been to every AFC Championship since 2019, with their sole loss being to the Cincinnati Bengals in 2021. This will also be the fourth Super Bowl appearance by the team in the past five seasons.
In the other side of the field is a team that’s looking for their first Super Bowl win since 1995. However, the success that the Chiefs are having now is reminiscent to the 49ers dominance of the late 80s when they won three Super Bowls in six seasons. Since the 1995 win, the 49ers have been in two Super Bowls, in 2012 and 2020, losing both.
Potential GOAT vs Mr. Irrelevant
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has had the best seven-year start to a career in NFL history. That’s just not debatable. Every season since he took over the quarterback position in Kansas City, the Chiefs have reached at least the AFC Championship game. Football fans like me were wondering if and quarterback could come close to Tom Brady as the best quarterback in NFL history. We’ll, it seems that we didn’t have to wait at all for the next one to come along.
The quarterback for the other team? “Mr. Irrelevant” himself, Brock Purdy. The last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. With seemingly no media attention coming into the league, Purdy would make the most of the opportunity of being on an NFL roster. He started 2022 as the third string quarterback on the team. Trey Lance started the first game of the season before being benched for Jimmy Garoppolo, who would start the next ten games for the 49ers before suffering a season-ending broken foot injury. Purdy takeover for the rest of the regular season and not look back. He got the 49ers to the NFC Championship game. However, on the 49ers first drive of the game he would leave with a shoulder injury. He came back in the game after halftime, but only threw two more passes in the loss. However he proved enough in the season for the 49ers to pick him as “their guy” for the 2023 season.
He has had a stellar 2023 campaign so far, passing for the fifth most passing yards in the league. He also ranks third in the league in touchdown passes. Purdy and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott are the only two quarterbacks in the league to start 16 of their teams 17 games and still have a 69% completion percentage.
Defensive strong suits
While the 49ers have perhaps the best offensive mind in all of football in head coach Kyle Shanahan, the strength of their team lies in the defensive side of the ball. Forcing teams to quick drives while the offense puts together time consuming drives. While they did give up 24 points to the Lions in the first half of the NFC Championship game, they didn’t allow a point in the second half until a Lions touchdown with just over a minute left. The Chiefs on the other hand, have relied on their defense for their offensive woes. A recurring theme for the team is receivers dropping passes and not capitalizing on opportunities. They have only allowed 42 points in three games this postseason. Those quarterbacks? NFL passing yards leader Tua Tagolvailoa, and MVP finalists Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson.
Both teams rank in the top ten in yards allowed. So expect these two to be involved in a low scoring affair come February 11.