The Kansas City Chiefs face off against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV on Sunday. In Part 1 of my Super Bowl preview, I will take a look at how the Chiefs’ explosive offense matches up against the talented 49er defense.
First, let’s discuss personnel. The Chiefs have the best quarterback in the NFL, Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes is like driving a Ferrari, he is a luxury. Mahomes possesses elite arm strength, accuracy and mobility. His ability to extend a play when the pocket breaks down is second to none. He is able to release the ball from different arm angles and throw off balance at an elite level. The Chiefs’ offense is hard enough to defend on a single play, but when Mahomes keeps the play alive creating a second play, it becomes impossible to defend.
Additionally, the Chiefs have the best pass catching tight end in the league in Travis Kelce. Kelce is an amazing route runner, who can separate vs man coverage, and also find space against zone. The Chiefs have Tyreek Hill and Mecole Hardman, the two fastest wide receivers in the NFL. Another strong receiver is Sammy Watkins, who was once the 4th overall pick in the draft due to his high end talent. The only weakness is their offensive line, which is hidden in the chiefs’ offensive scheme due to the brilliance of Head Coach Andy Reid.
On the other side of the ball, the 49ers have a very fast and athletic defense. They are led by their defensive line, which is made up of Nick Bosa, Deforest Buckner, Arik Armstead and Dee Ford. The Chiefs’ offensive line cannot block these 4 by themselves, so it will certainly be something to watch. The only hope the 49ers have of slowing down the Chiefs is if they can get pressure on Mahomes and contain him in the pocket. Their secondary is led by Richard Sherman, who is still playing at a high level into his thirties. The 49ers play mostly zone coverage, so they get by without premium talent in the secondary. They do, however, have two rangy, athletic linebackers in Fred Warner and Kwon Alexander. Both linebackers are sometimes asked to carry wide receivers down the field in their staple Cover 3 scheme. That will be a key matchup as I will discuss below.
As soon as the Chiefs and 49ers won their games two Sunday’s ago, they immediately got to work and started studying film on each other. When coaches study an opponent, they won’t watch all of their opponents games, they will only watch relevant games. What I mean by that in preparation for the 49ers, the Chiefs will watch games they’ve played against teams that run the same Cover 3 scheme as the 49ers. They will also watch the game from last year, when they played the 49ers. That is the game I will start with. The clips are courtesy of the coaches film from NFL GamePass.
In the play above, the 49ers are playing Cover 3. This means that they have 4 underneath zone defenders and 3 deep defenders. To the bottom of the screen, The Chiefs align Travis Kelce in the slot. Kelce will run a sail route, as seen below. Reid calls a flood concept, which means there are 3 receivers running a deep, intermediate, and short route to one side of the field. Reid puts the curl flat defender in a bind, the linebacker playing over Kelce. The linebacker doesn’t carry Kelce on his route, leaving him wide open.
The 49ers won’t stay in Cover 3 the entire game, because Reid and Mahomes will shred them. A coverage they will run off of Cover 3 is Cover 3 buzz. This coverage is similar to Cover 3 because defenders will occupy the same areas. Instead, the defense will rotate a safety down to be a hook defender instead of a linebacker, who will then play the curl flat area. Reid dialed up double slants to attack Cover 3 buzz, which the 49ers are playing in the clip below. Mahomes throws the slant to the inside receiver at the bottom of the screen before the safety buzzing down can make a play.
The Chiefs will often line up in a 3×1 formation, putting 3 receivers to one side of the field. The Chiefs will line up their fastest receiver, Tyreek Hill as the 3rd receiver, the most inside receiver. They do this because in the 49ers zone scheme, a linebacker will have to cover him. Here, the 49ers pay so much attention to Hill running downfield, that Reid dials up a screen to the running back for a big play.
Another relevant game would be against the Chargers, who run the same Cover 3 defense as the 49ers. Here, the Chargers are playing Cover 6. This means that they are playing Cover 4 to the top of the screen, and Cover 2 to the bottom. Cover 6 is another coverage that the 49ers have played more of recently, and may call against the Chiefs on sunday. Here, Kelce runs a corner route, which should be bracketed by the corner and the safety. Instead, the corner playing low, plays his zone too soft and does not get his hands on Kelce. Kelce is wide open, because the safety is late to get over. The safety was concerned with the #3 receiver running vertical, just like the previous clip in the 49ers game from 2018.
Overall, the Chiefs have a lot of talent to cover. The 49ers should mix up their coverages in order to keep the Chiefs off balance. They will need their pass rush to get home if they have any chance of stopping the high powered Chiefs’ offense.
Talkin Ball 