49ers Brace for Dynasty-Building Chiefs in Playoff Showdown

49ers Brace for Dynasty-Building Chiefs in Playoff Showdown

 

That’s a good thing, considering the next task is probably the steepest this 49ers franchise has faced head coach Kyle Shanahan: Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs failed to secure the NFL’s first dynasty from the New England Patriots.

The task is somewhat symmetrical, considering that the 49ers fell victim to Mahomes in their first championship game and suffered a 31-20 nightmare loss in Super Bowl LIV when San Francisco blew a 10-point quarter lead. That comeback secured Mahomes the first round of his career and put him on a Tom Brady-like trajectory of six straight AFC title games and now four Super Bowls in that same span.

Arguably, none of those games carried as much weight for Kansas City as this one, as it gives the Chiefs a chance to become the first franchise since New England to win in 2003/04. from seasons of the year to Super Bowls. Simply put, it’s a dynasty-stamping opportunity. Given the era of the NFL, the Chiefs already represent such a franchise. But if they win a Super Bowl on Feb. 11 — which would be three starting in 2020 — all dynasty naysayers can line up with the league’s other relentless trolls and shoot the sun.

While preventing such history was not on the 49ers’ minds Sunday night, the obstacle was not difficult to grasp. “What a challenge,” 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy said of the game. “You have Mahomes and his work and their team — they’re special guys. They’re winners. They showed that he was there for so many years. It’s nice to be back and play them. It will be special for all of us. Obviously I wasn’t here [during the 2019 season and the loss], but you can just tell the guys that were here, all of them, that it’s special to play with these guys. Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said he didn’t see any of the Chiefs’ 17-10 AFC title win over the Baltimore Ravens, but got the news just before the 49ers took the field against the Lions.”They’re a damn good team,” Shanahan said.

“They have a great coach, a great quarterback, a great defense. I didn’t get to see a lot of them this year because we didn’t have a lot of cross tape. But I think they have a pretty good idea of ​​what it’s going to look like. They had it for a while. We ran into them [during the 2019 season and the Super Bowl], so it seems like they’ve been there every year since . We tried very hard to get back to that moment.”.