One of the universal practices practiced every week in the NFL is watching film.
Teams competing in a given week watch a large amount of tape about their previous games and opponents. This typically begins with the coaches and the entire team at the beginning of the week and branches into more specific breakdowns during position group meetings.
The film study has taken on a more emotional, albeit painful, tone for the 49ers (3-3) this week ahead of Sunday's 5-0 win over the Chiefs.
The 49ers had no choice but to watch tape from the last time they faced the Chiefs, eight months ago in Super Bowl LVIII, a 25-22 overtime loss in Las Vegas.
“Everyone understands we lost to them in two Super Bowls,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters this week. “When you turn on the tape, there can be some post-traumatic stress. That's human nature. But you have to try not to get caught up in that. This game is a past game, So it has nothing to do with last year's game.”
This will be the 10th time in NFL history that a rematch of the previous Super Bowl will be played in the upcoming regular season, with the defending champions going 6-3 in that game.
If that wasn't bad enough, the 49ers are 0-4 against the Chiefs since Shanahan took over as San Francisco coach in 2017, with both of their Super Bowl losses coming by double-digit leads. It includes what happened.
The 49ers went up 10-0 in the first quarter in February and held the lead in the fourth and overtime, only to be reversed by Chiefs superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Also. This is the second time following the 2019 season.
“It's definitely a little emotional,” 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa told reporters about having to watch the tape of last year's Super Bowl loss. “But at this point, it's just a game, so we're just looking at the tape and trying to learn from it. There's a lot of similarities to last year. We have some new players, but we have some very good players. Obviously we have No. 15 on defense and offense. [Mahomes] Go back there. So it's always dangerous. ”
San Francisco linebacker Fred Warner attempted to justify the importance of this matchup, stating that the matchup “I'm sure isn't as dramatic as maybe everyone else thinks.”
“[We’ve] I’ve moved on,” he said. “New season, new games, new team, new players.”
There haven't been many drastic changes for the Chiefs, but the 49ers are a lot different than the team they lost to in February. In the offseason, the team fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilkes, replaced him with Nick Sorensen, and hired former Chargers head coach Brandon Staley to the assistant head coaching role to help the defense.
The Niners have been plagued by injuries this season. Running back Christian McCaffrey (Achilles tendonitis), defensive tackle Javon Hargrave (triceps tear), linebacker Dre Greenlaw (Achilles tear), safety Talanoa Hufanga (wrist ligament tear), offense Lineman Jon Feliciano (knee) and kicker Jake Moody will be out. (right ankle).
With the exception of Houfanga, all of these players started in the Super Bowl. Other former 49ers (defensive linemen Arik Armstead and Chase Young and safety Tashaun Gipson Jr.) signed with other teams in free agency.
One of the important battles takes place in the trenches. Perhaps the most obvious reason the 49ers lost the Super Bowl was their failure to block Kansas City defensive tackle Chris Jones, who wreaked havoc in a key moment of the game. San Francisco's rookie right guard Dominic Puni will have primary duties with Jones on Sunday.
“He's one of the best D-tackles, if not the best in the league, so I'm really looking forward to it,” Puni told reporters.
Be careful what you wish for.
The two quarterbacks that stand out most in this game are Mahomes and San Francisco's Brock Purdy.
Purdy continued to perform well, throwing for 255 yards and three touchdowns with no turnovers in last week's game against Seattle.
As if those challenges weren't enough for the 49ers, the Chiefs are coming off a bye week, and you know what that means? Kansas City head coach Andy Reid has an overall record of 21-4 in the regular season after his team's byes, which is the highest of any head coach since the bye system was introduced in 1990 (with at least 10 losses). This is the highest record in the game.
“We think about it going into the game, but in terms of how it plays out in the game, there's really no correlation. We try to make sure there's no correlation,” Shanahan said. said.
By Sunday's kickoff, it will have been 252 days since Kansas City won its third championship in four years and second at the expense of the 49ers.
“Just because we lost the Super Bowl doesn't mean we can get revenge,” San Francisco's left tackle said after Seattle's win. “That ship has sailed.”
