Bad News For San Francisco 49ers Coach

February 8, 2024 fulltimesport Other Clubs 0

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan congratulates Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid after their NFL game at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022. The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 44-23. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

HENDERSON, Nev. — It was the day Christian McCaffrey made his 49ers debut with just one day of practice and coincided with an obscure seventh-round draft pick named Brock Purdy playing in his first NFL regular season game.

Mostly, it was the day the Kansas City Chiefs came to town and beat up the 49ers in their home stadium.

The good news for the 49ers? McCaffrey and Purdy were just getting started.

For all the talk about the previous Super Bowl played between the teams following the 2019 season, a better comparison for Sunday’s purposes in Super Bowl LVIII was in Week 7 of 2022. Eight current 49ers suited up for the 31-20 loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV in Miami. There are 23 current 49ers who played in the regular season game last season.

“It was kind of a man-check,” linebacker Dre Greenlaw said Wednesday at the Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort. “Sometimes you think you’re doing good and you play good teams and they tell you you’re not as good as you think you are. They got the best of us.

“Everything about that game is relevant. It’s a lot of the same guys, the same scheme.”

The 49ers had yet to find their footing after reverting to Jimmy Garoppolo when Trey Lance was lost for the season in Week 2. They were 3-3 and the Chiefs were 4-2.

The final score was 44-23, the most points the 49ers had given up since a 48-46 win over New Orleans in 2019. Kansas City had six plays of 25 yards or longer with a long of 57 and averaged 9.1 yards per snap.

The 49ers trailed 14-13 at the half and were within 28-23 with 14:16 to play on a 15-yard pass from Garoppolo to George Kittle.

Then the roof caved in. Over the next eight minutes, the Chiefs scored the last 16 points with Patrick Mahomes throwing a 45-yard touchdown pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster with 6:05 to play.

“I remember we were within a touchdown and then a short time later we were down by 21 points,” 49ers cornerback Charvarius “Mooney” Ward said. “I think they humbled us a little bit. They came in our backyard and put 44 points on us.”

Cornerback Deommodore Lenoir said the one-sided nature of the fourth quarter left a lasting impact.

“I felt that was the only game we really lost as far as someone beating us,” Lenoir said. “The other losses weren’t like that. The Chiefs came in and beat us.”

Mahomes finished 25 of 34 for 423 yards and three touchdowns and Kansas City averaged 5.3 yards per carry, victimizing the 49ers on the perimeter on fly sweeps and crack toss plays.

“That was a long day,” inside linebacker Fred Warner said. “We gave up some things and they exposed some holes we had in our defense. From then on we had to shore things up. I’m sure they’re looking at the tape right now, looking for areas to expose as well.”

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