Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs might be slight NFL betting favorites to win Super Bowl LIV, but Jimmy Garoppolo and the San Francisco 49ers are looking like a team that won’t go down quietly – if at all in this season’s Big Dance. If you’re looking for reasons to back the Niners to pull off the upset, then you’re about to get seven excellent reasons why that could happen!
7 Reasons why the San Francisco 49ers will win Super Bowl LIV
7. George Kittle
While the Kansas City Chiefs have an all-world tight end in Travis Kelce that many football fans believe is the best pass-catching tight end in the game today, the 49ers have a tight end in George Kittle that many believe is the best tight end in the game – period. Kittle finished the regular season with 85 catches for 1,053 yards with five TD grabs.The good news for the Chiefs is that Kittle has been held in check throughout the postseason with just four catches for 35 yards and no scores in two games. Still, Kittle presents a ton of problems and Kansas City might not have an answer for him.
6. Chiefs’ Lack Of Offensive Balance
Kansas City finished the regular season ranked a stupendous fifth in passing and fifth in scoring, but the Chiefs were a largely unbalanced team on offense in ranking just 23rd in rushing.If the Niners can sit back and simply play the pass, they will almost certainly have a better chance of stopping Patrick Mahomes and company if the Chiefs don’t try to keep Frisco’s stingy defense honest by at least, attempting to run the ball.
5. Road Warriors in Super Bowl LIV
San Francisco went a stupendous 7-1 in their eight road dates this season and that bodes well heading to Miami. Of course, Kansas City also went 7-1 in eight road dates this season, so, there’s that!
4. Takeaways
San Francisco finished the regular season ranked sixth in takeaways (25). After picking off Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins once and recording one fumble recovery in the divisional round, the Niners picked off Aaron Rodgers twice in the NFC Championship and that was the difference in their biggest game of the season.
If Frisco can pick off Patrick Mahomes at least once and come up with a timely fumble recovery, they could very well win Super Bowl 54.
3. Chiefs Run Defense
Kansas City finished an uninspiring 26th against the run and that’s a great thing for a 49ers team that loves to run the ball with their stable of underrated running backs.
2. Powerful Rushing Attack for Super Bowl LIV
While the Chiefs struggle to run the ball, the 49ers finished second in rushing during the regular season (144.1 ypg) despite not having a 1,000-yard rusher on their roster.The Niners can hit the Chiefs with a handful of underrated running backs. Raheem Mostert racked up 772 rushing yards on the season while averaging a stellar 5.6 yards per carry, Matt Breida added 623 rushing yards while averaging 5.1 yards a pop.
Then, there’s veteran Tevin Coleman who added 544 yards while averaging 4.0 yards per carry in 14 games. Mostert had a phenomenal game in rushing for a career-high 220 yards and four scores against Green Bay in the NFC Championship game, so there’s that as well.
1. Pass Defense
While Kansas City ranked fifth in scoring, thanks mostly to their fifth-ranked passing attack, if there’s any team capable of shutting down Patrick Mahomes and company, it’s got to be San Francisco. The Niners finished first in pass defense by allowing just 169.2 yards per game.Frisco shut down Kirk Cousins in the divisional round to the tune of 172 passing yards with one TD and one pick while beating the hell out of Aaron Rodgers and the Packers for the second time this season by picking off Green Bay’s main man twice in the NFC Championship.
