Julian Linden and Jimmy Pandaram discuss who will win the crown.
For the Niners, it's all or nothing
– Julian Linden
The Super Bowl has a way of messing with people's heads.
The margin between greatness and failure is always so slim that the prospect of winning the biggest event in American sports often comes second only to the fear of losing.
No team fears that more than the San Francisco 49ers, who once again find themselves on the cusp of eternity and utter despair.
If they beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Las Vegas, they will capture a record-tying sixth Super Bowl title, equaling the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots.
But if they are relegated, they will be included in the long list of teams that continue to spoil their streak on the biggest stage of all.
For the Niners, it's all or nothing and the stakes couldn't be higher.
On paper, they are the favorites to win because they have the best roster in the NFL and have been a consistent high performer, reaching four of the last five NFC Championships.
They also made the 2019 Super Bowl — losing to the Chiefs — continuing their frustrating run in the title game.
San Francisco won four Super Bowls in the 1980s and 1990s under Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Steve Young, but the wait for a fifth has been going on for nearly three decades.
But this year offers new hope for the Niners and a direct link back to their last Super Bowl win that had team followers believing the stars had indeed aligned.
When the Niners won in 1995, Ed McCaffrey was one of the wide receivers. His son Christian is the team's current fullback and one of the best players in the game.
San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan also has a family connection to 1995 because his father, Mike, was the 49ers' offensive coach.
A chip off the old block, Kyle Shanahan is a tactical genius with a host of offensive stars at his disposal.
In addition to McCaffrey, who scored 21 goals in the regular season and three more in the playoffs, the 49ers also have wide receiver Deebo Samuel and tight end George Kittle.
The man calling the shots is Brock Purdy, the underappreciated quarterback who has blossomed into one of the best playmakers on the field.
He was the 262nd and final player selected from the 2022 NFL: Draft, earning him the title of Mr. Irrelevant, even though he wasn't.
This season, he broke the 49ers' team record for most passing yards, earning the ultimate praise from Shanahan.
“We had a lot of really good quarterbacks in this organization,” Shanahan said. “This is a very big accomplishment from him.”
If there's an unsung hero on the 49ers offense, it's Pro Bowl tackle Trent Williams. He doesn't score any touchdowns because he never gets his hands on the ball but he is the best at blocking opponents' access to Purdy.
The 49ers also have a stacked roster of defensemen, whose job is to stop Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
If they can make life difficult for Mahomes in the pocket, the 49ers will almost certainly go on and win but that is easier said than done.
The game changers there are Nick Bosa, a defensive lineman who has racked up 30-plus sacks the past two seasons, and Fred Warner — who is arguably the best linebacker in the league, and one of the players who lost to the Chiefs five years ago. So he's out for revenge.
“It's something I thought about all season, worked for, and finally got there,” he said.
“I know what it feels like to make it. I know it's not enough to just make it happen.”
Mahomes will prove once again why he is the best in the NFL
The underrated Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs quickly became a classic in the genre.
But what the greatest quarterback of this generation and his band of disruptors enjoyed doing was flipping the script.
The one indisputable fact about sports greats is that they perform when it counts. Michael Jordan. Lionel Messi. Tom Brady.
Mahomes, just 28 years old, already has two Super Bowl rings and six AFC Championship titles.
If he wins his third Lombardi Trophy, he will sit behind only Brady and Joe Montana.
The real hype is that Mahomes will once again prove why he is the best in the NFL.
The Chiefs are the underdogs in the Super Bowl, but that's nothing new.
They have been underdogs in five of their past six playoff games, going back to last season's AFC Championship Game against Cincinnati, and Super Bowl XVII against Philadelphia which they won 38-35.
Kansas City was the favorite when hosting Miami in the wildcard round of the playoffs this year, but was expected to lose to the Bills in Buffalo, then the Ravens in Baltimore.
Bet against Andy Reid's team at your own risk.
And when they lost four of six games late in the season, everyone except the inner circle wrote them off. It has been a “off season” for the Chiefs. Now they're in for the big dance, for the fourth time in five years.
At the same time, the 49ers became the first team in seven years to start every game of the season as favorites, including the final game.
But the Ravens revealed the blueprint to defeat the 49ers on Boxing Day with a 33-19 win, relentlessly pressuring quarterback Brock Purdy who threw four interceptions.
While San Francisco has improved, Purdy has looked vulnerable during these playoffs, and with a Chiefs defense led by mastermind coach Steve Spagnuolo, the young passer will face the toughest test of his career.
The Niners' running game is their biggest strength. They will hand over a lot to Christian McCaffrey – their best player – and create rotations for the powerful Deebo Samuel.
It will be up to Chiefs defenders Chris Jones, Willie Gay, George Karlaftis and Nick Bolton to pressure McCaffrey and pressure Purdy to make risky throws on the second and third downs. The Chiefs' running backs, L'Jarius Sneed and Trent McDuffie, are the best in the business, with Sneed giving up just one touchdown this entire season.
Sneed has the experience and athleticism to shut down Niners receiver Brandon Aiyuk, which will greatly limit San Fran's offense.
The Chiefs were giving up just 17.3 points during the regular season, and that dropped to an average of 13.7 points in the playoffs.
Thanks to what they showed last month, and their ability to adapt to different tactics within the game, the Chiefs have more ability on defense to stop what the Niners throw at them.
Conversely, Mahomes has proven time and time again that he is a master of juggling the toughest of defenses.
His game management, anticipation and ability to create game-changing plays is unparalleled in this era; He took that scarf from Brady.
Mahomes didn't throw an interception this entire series of the playoffs, and Chiefs offensive linemen Donovan Smith, Creed Humphrey, Jawaan Taylor and Nick Allegretti did a good job of protecting the playmaker and creating openings for an angry Isiah Pacheco to penetrate.
And now Mahomes has fired his key guys.
For the first time in eight seasons, Travis Kelce failed to have 1,000 receiving yards in the regular season, falling for just 16 yards (no other tight end in history has had more than three consecutive 1,000-plus yard seasons).
Kelce could have scored his eighth straight goal in the final against the Bengals, but he chose to rest his body rather than pursue individual glory, and the results are starting to show.
He was back to his peak in the playoffs.
Kelce was targeted 11 times in the AFC Championship game at Baltimore, and had 11 points including a touchdown. He plays his best when it matters.
The Niners will likely have to double-team Kelce to contain his impact, hoping against missed opportunities from the Chiefs' wobbly receivers.
While KC's receivers, including Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Kadaius Toney, fumbled passes during the season that cost them games, the Chiefs' offense was far more effective in the playoffs.
Rookie Rashee Rice became Mahomes' favorite target, while the quarterback showed absolute faith in MVS by throwing him the long ball to seal the win and seal the win over Baltimore.
While Kelce often changes routes on the fly, and Mahomes telepathically adjusts and finds the big man, Rice's reliability on straight routes — both up the field and drifting across them — is the solid secondary option the Chiefs have been looking for this season.
They have the defense to hold off the 49ers, they have the offensive options to exploit them, and they have the wizard at quarterback who orchestrates a dynasty.
