The Chiefs’ team speed elevates them to an exceptionally dangerous level on offense. Behind head coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, Kansas City’s offense is designed to create and exploit mismatches with their gaggle of explosive athletes on the perimeter.
San Francisco’s defense may be more well-equipped than most to handle some of those playmakers quarterback Patrick Mahomes has so much success getting the ball to.
While the talk of the 49ers defense is their defensive line, the linebacking corps behind them could become the story Sunday. Part of the way Kansas City gashes teams is by getting their wide receivers, who all run 4.3ish in the 40-yard dash, matched up with linebackers in coverage. Most linebackers in the NFL aren’t built to run with those pass catchers. The 49ers group might be just athletic enough to hang with them.
Here’s how dominant the trio of Fred Warner, Kwon Alexander and Dre Greenlaw were in coverage this year:
All three of the 49ers linebackers are top 15 in coverage grade among LBs with at least 30 targets (including playoffs)
9 Fred Warner: 78.5
10 Kwon Alexander: 78.3
14 Dre Greenlaw: 72.7 pic.twitter.com/lzqHwDBtS3— PFF SF 49ers (@PFF_49ers) January 27, 2020
The key isn’t so much keeping up with those receivers in a foot race. There aren’t many players in the league able to do that. However, they are athletic enough to stay stuck to those receivers long enough to make a play if the pass rush gets home. Two or three steps of tight coverage could be the difference between an incompletion and a touchdown.
They’ll also get plenty of matchups on tight end Travis Kelce, who is as good a pass catcher as there is at his position. While safeties and cornerbacks will get matched up on Kelce, the linebacking trio will have to run with him in the middle of the field.
Kansas City’s offense is a different animal for a defense, and it’s not necessarily going to be easy for the 49ers. However, if they can utilize their speed in the second level to eliminate some easy throws and swarm to the football when passes are completed underneath, they may be able to take away some easy completions for Mahomes and at least make his life a little more difficult.