CHIEFS RALLY TO WIN SUPER BOWL
49ers defense was Lombardiworthy until Mahomes, Chiefs wrestled it away
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — All it took was a stutter. Sammy Watkins got a step on Richard Sherman, and he was gone. Patrick Mahomes unleashed the pass over Sherman’s head and into Watkins’ hands. Four plays later came the decisive score of Super Bowl LIV.
Against any other offense, it wouldn’t have happened. It couldn’t have.
But no team in football was better against the zone than the Chiefs this season. And no team in football relied on the zone more — and more successfully — than San Francisco in its cover three scheme.
But on this play — and many in this 31-20 loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV — Sherman was matched up one-on-one against the speedy Watkins. “Uncle Sherm” as he’s become known in the twilight of his career couldn’t keep up.
The 49ers spent the past two weeks implementing a largely man-to-man scheme to contain a Chiefs offense that had torn apart the zone this season. Measured by ESPN’s QBR stat, Mahomes was near-perfect — 99.3 out of a possible 100 — against the zone.
Turns out, this prolific Chiefs offense can beat just about any defense.
As usual, Sherman patrolled the left side of the field and Emmanuel Mosely the right. But, for the most part, they matched up one-on-one with the receiver lined up opposite them, with safeties Jimmie Ward and Jaquiski Tartt dropped back in coverage.
It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the Chiefs offense began to heat up. Nick Bosa was in Mahomes’ face on the first play of the game. Mahomes tried to find running back Damien Williams in the flat, but Bosa got his hand on the pass. The next play? Another pass incomplete to Williams. The vaunted Chiefs offense didn’t look so might after all.
But the Chiefs simply used their opening drive as a test run. Then they started testing the run. And, more crucially, the run-pass option.
If Kansas City’s first drive was vanilla, then everything that followed was funfetti. Only to be followed by red-and-gold confetti when it was all over.
And yet, it took a pure act of Patrick Mahomes to crack Robert Saleh’s defense. Sure, the firsthalf stat sheet looked good (Mahomes: 12-18, 104 yards; Williams: 47 yards on 10 rush attempts), but it had amounted to only 10 points. The 49ers had even intercepted Mahomes twice — once by linebacker Fred Warner in zone, another by fifth-string cornerback Tarvarius Moore in man coverage.
But late in the fourth quarter, Mahomes — with DeForest Buckner in his face — unleashed a bomb that could have moonlighted as a punt. Only, it landed in the hands of a wide-open Hill, who had gotten behind the San Francisco defense, for a gain of 44 yards. It only took four more plays for the Chiefs to get into the end zone and put their star quarterback within striking distance. And strike, he did.
The 49ers proceeded to go three and out and put the ball right back in the hands of the one man they least wanted to have it. A weak punt gave Kansas City the ball just 15 yards from midfield, only needing a field goal to tie.
The 49ers, who held a 20-10 lead with less than half the fourthquarter to go, could not hold on. They contained Mahomes for 50 minutes, but could not do it 10 minutes longer.