49ers await Super Bowl rematch with Chiefs — without trophy at stake
SANTA CLARA – Nick Bosa kept the 49ers’ victory lap in check Thursday night. Attention quickly turned to their next game, the one he and many others have anticipated since, well, last season’s Super Bowl on Feb. 11.
The two-time defending champion Kansas City Chiefs (5-0) are due in at Levi’s Stadium next Sunday to take on the revived 49ers (3-3).
“We have a long road ahead and it starts with the team that we haven’t beaten yet since I’ve been here,” Bosa said. “We definitely are trying to get the monkey off our back with that one.”
Not only have the 49ers lost twice in the Super Bowl to the Chiefs (in the 2019 and ’23 seasons), Bosa and most others also experienced a 44-23 regular-season loss in Oct. 23, 2022, after which the 49ers won 12 straight games before losing in the NFC Championship Game at Philadelphia.
This season’s Super Bowl is Feb. 9 in New Orleans. Making it there is the 49ers’ mission more so than avenging last season’s 25-22 overtime loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas.
“It’s not like we can get payback for losing in the Super Bowl. That ship has sailed,” left tackle Trent Williams said. “So it’s another game. We have to come out and try to play complementary football.”
The Chiefs are vying to become the first franchise to win the Super Bowl in three consecutive years.
“We know what type of team that is: one of the best teams in the league, all-star quarterback, great coach,” Williams added. “It’s going to be a tough game, regardless.”
While the 49ers got a three-day break following Thursday night’s 36-24 win at Seattle, the Chiefs will be even more rested via their Week 6 bye.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid is 29-4 coming off a bye, including a 21-17 loss last season at home to the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Chiefs pulled out one-score victories in their first four games – 27-20 vs. the Ravens, 26-25 vs. the Bengals, 22-17 at the Falcons, 17-10 at the Chargers – before beating the New Orleans Saints 26-13 last Monday night at Arrowhead Stadium.
Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers’ eighth-year coach, is 0-4 against the Chiefs, first losing a 2018 Week 3 game at Kansas City. Shanahan’s 49ers let a 20-10, fourth-quarter lead slip away in the 2019 Super Bowl that the Chiefs won 31-20 in Miami Gardens, Fla., then the failed to hold 16-13, 19-16, 22-19 leads after the third quarter in last season’s Super Bowl.
Shanahan’s latest outing saw the 49ers take a 23-3 lead in Seattle before outlasting the Seahawks on Thursday night.
“Real excited to get a win, have everyone rest up a little bit, see the family some, catch up on some of your own studies that we do and come back Monday ready to go,” Shanahan said Friday.
The Chiefs’ tandem of Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce have connected for 51 touchowns, and one more against the 49ers will push them past the Saints’ Drew Brees and Jimmy Graham for third-most in NFL history between a quarterback and tight end. For comparison, George Kittle’s two touchdown grabs Thursday night pushed his total to 18 in regular-season action with Brock Purdy, one more than Kittle had with Jimmy Garoppolo.
For as much attention as Mahomes, Kelce and Reid’s offense merits, the 49ers know better than anyone not to ignore Chiefs’ defensive tackle Chris Jones. On the 49ers’ final offensive snap in the Super Bowl, right guard Spencer Burford failed to block Jones and that resulted in Purdy hurrying an incompletion toward Jauan Jennings in overtime, leading to a 49ers field goal before the Chiefs’ ensuing winning touchdown drive. Jones has 78 ½ career sacks, the most in Chiefs’ history by a defensive tackle.
Kansas City’s defense, under coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, entered Week 6 tied for fifth in points allowed (17 per game), ninth in total yards (305.4), third in rushing (88.4) and 21st in passing (217.0). The Chiefs’ red-zone defense is 10th (46.7% touchdown-conversion rate), while the 49ers’ embattled red-zone offense is tied for 24th (44.4%).