Super Bowl duds happen, but Chiefs-49ers shapes up as really good one
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — No Super Bowl can live up to the two weeks of hype. It’s so thick, the earth’s atmosphere goes into oxygen deficit.
The endless halftime, we’ll add, snootily, isn’t highly compatible to football flow. It can be twice as long as what the players are used to.
We’ll get to this year’s Super Bowl matchup, which really does set up as a beauty, but if you can think all the way back to last year’s Super Bowl — it took me awhile — you’ll get the drift here.
A Rams offense that was supposed to be all that, failed to score a single touchdown. The Rams had put up 33 points per game in the season, another 28 in the playoffs.
What happened? Bill Belichick happened. Also: a Super Bowl newbie, Rams coach Sean McVay, out-thought himself, which he copped to afterward.
Truly, it was a display of bad football from the Rams offense. Not even the Pats fans who wear Pats jammies would’ve bet on the Rams not scoring a TD. Reminder: These games, unlike “Star Trek” plots, don’t run off scripts.
Caveat in place, here, then, are a few storylines about the 54th Super Bowl, Feb. 2 in Miami, summed up with short headlines.
Seeing red
It’s the first Super Bowl between teams whose primary color is red. The nickname of Chiefs coach Andy Reid? Big Red.
Rallying around Jimmy G
Patrick Mahomes, who for football geeks has made the Chiefs a must-see team since he took over the offense two seasons ago, is the better quarterback going into this game. Here’s the scary part: That would be true, no matter the quarterback.
That seems rich because Mahomes has never played in a Super Bowl. But it’s an easy case to make. There’s no active quarterback who checks as many boxes as Mahomes. Not only a tremendous passer in many phases, he’s a dangerous runner, both on improvisational plays and designed runs.
Before the ball is kicked in Miami, the Niners will say plenty of sincerely nice things about Mahomes, who has taken Kansas City to its first Super Bowl in 50 years.
But this will be a thing: The Niners will make a point of standing up for their guy, Jimmy Garoppolo. Because they know what’s coming.
The Niners bludgeoned their two playoff opponents, the Vikings and Packers, behind a strong ground game and dangerous pass rush.
Not much was asked of Garoppolo. He’s today’s Bob Griese, the care-taker quarterback for Miami Dolphins teams that bullied opponents in the early 1970s. But this isn’t the era of bland quarterbacking.
John Lynch Jr., the team’s general manager, provided a good preview of his club’s coming Jimmy G narrative Sunday night after the Niners so dominated the
Packers in the NFC title game that Garoppolo threw only eight passes.
“The great thing is we went to a game like at New Orleans, where he out-dueled Drew Brees,” Lynch said of the 48-46 victory over the Saints last month, in which Garoppolo threw for 349 yards and four touchdowns.
“So, we’re capable of doing that. The greatest thing about Jimmy is, he’s a former linebacker, and he likes winning football games. He’s 23-5 in his career now. He doesn’t care how we do it.”
We’re fast, too
The Chiefs’ O boasts more foot speed than any NFL offense, perhaps more than any NFL offense ever. Mahomes has the arm and the other traits to make great use of all that speed.
The Niners are proud of their team’s speed, too.
Once again, Lynch, a former All-Pro safety and Super Bowl winner as a player, provided the coming narrative, this time after he was asked if he has sought players who reminded him of himself.
Lynch said he selected for competitiveness, a trait where he graded highly. He smiled and added:
“I wanted guys a little faster than I was. … We’ve got guys 4.3 (in the 40-yard dash) all over this roster. It’s something we talked about in terms of the talent. We want speed on this roster. We kept chipping away at it, and it’s a real fast and physical team.”
Lynch praised a former Niners braintrust of GM Trent Baalke and coach Chip Kelly for signing Raheem Mostert, the much-traveled running back who roasted the Packers for 220 yards rushing Sunday.
He said Mostert “can fly.” What’s more, his unorthodox style plays up his speed, said the former safety.
“People look at him on film; they know he’s fast but they don’t know how fast until he starts playing,” Lynch said. “You always see people taking the wrong angle on him. It happens week in and week out. He runs kind of erect. For whatever reason, it doesn’t look like (Chiefs receiver-returner) Tyreek Hill. But, he’s that fast.”
Lynch mentioned the explosive pair of edge defenders, Nick Bosa and Dee Ford, he acquired last offseason. He noted statistics that showed the Niners D is more apt to pressure or sack the quarterback when Ford, a former Chiefs firstround draftee and regular, is on the field.
He brought up Kwon Alexander, a fast linebacker.
Alexander is the kind of versatile defender who’s especially needed against the Chiefs.
He wasn’t expected to return to this Niners team after suffering a pectoral injury in Week 8 but played in both playoff games. The extra week before the Super Bowl will allow Alexander to further his recovery.
“One of the most selfless things I’ve ever seen,” said Lynch, of Alexander’s return. “Doctors told us it would be a six-month injury. He comes back in nine weeks. That’s unheard of, and that’s mindset, and that’s inspiring. I love this team, I really do.”
Peak Chiefs offense
As good as the Chiefs offense was this past season, finishing fifth in scoring and second in net yards per pass attempt, health challenges limited them.
The Chiefs are now enjoying not only improved health, but have a grooved, in-sync look to them. It starts with Mahomes, who was hindered by a high ankle sprain and then a dislocated kneecap that sidelined him 21⁄2 games.
“We’ve still got business to do against Kansas City, an unbelievable opponent,” Lynch said.
Right tackle Mitchell Schwartz, coming off a good season, provided rare stability in the AFC playoff games, nullifying edge rushers with the Texans and Titans. In Miami, against Bosa and former teammate Ford, he’ll be stepping up in class.
Left tackle Eric Fisher has put together a solid stretch in his comeback from injury.
Helped by Mahomes, whose rollouts, climbs and scrambles seemed to wear down Titans pass-rushers Sunday, Kansas City’s interior line has picked up its game.
Damien Williams, the top Chiefs running back, appears more comfortable lately. He’s in his second year under Reid.
A rarity, Kyle Shanahan, son of former Super Bowl-winning coach Mike Shanahan, won’t go into this, the 19th game for the Niners, as the clear-cut favorite in offensive designs and play-calling.
Because Reid, who apprenticed under Mike Holmgren, is the counterpart.
“The ability to call it on game day, Kyle’s as good as anyone now,” Lynch said. “We’re going up against one of the other guys in Andy Reid and Eric Bieniemy (a former Chargers running back in his second season as Reid’s coordinator). They do a tremendous job so it should be a tremendous matchup.”