Anyone who watched Super Bowl 58 could see that the Kansas City Chiefs' defense did an excellent job of limiting a star-studded San Francisco 49ers attack.
The Chiefs frustrated the 49ers with tight man coverage and tackled superbly well in the open field to limit opportunities after the catch in a critically stout performance from Steve Spagnuolo's unit.
Kansas City's defense has continued to excel in 2024, providing impressive support to an offense that has seen injuries to key playmakers and struggled to produce explosive plays with any kind of consistency.
The Chiefs head into Sunday's Super Bowl rematch between the two teams having allowed the third-fewest points in the NFL (85) and rank ninth in yards per play and yards per game allowed.
Kansas City's performance on that side of the ball so far this year led 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan to lavish praise on Spagnuolo's group in his Wednesday press conference.
"I thought last year it was the best defense that we played all year," Shanahan said. "And I feel that way this year so far.
"They've got guys who've been playing a long time together. They've been doing his scheme for a while. He's been doing a scheme for so long, but they continue to add to it. They continue to fine-tune it. And I got a lot of respect for him and his scheme."
Shanahan's comments echo those made by tight end George Kittle on 'The Deebo Samuel Show'.
"I would say this is probably the best defense we've gone against this season. That's what we've talked about already in our tight end room," said Kittle.
The merits of Spagnuolo's defense are not in question, but the comments of Shanahan and Kittle are a little surprising given they have already gone against a Minnesota Vikings defense ranked first in the NFL by Expected Points Added per play and DVOA. Minnesota is second in success rate on defense, the Chiefs are 19th.
San Francisco's Week 2 defeat to the Vikings saw quarterback Brock Purdy seek out Minnesota defensive coordinator Brian Flores after the game to praise his 'crazy' defensive scheme , Flores and his group having succeeded in getting regular pressure on Purdy and making him hesitate by changing the picture from pre to post-snap with a range of unconventional coverage disguises.
That is not to say Spagnuolo's Chiefs defense does not have the ability to do the same, but it is interesting that the 49ers seemingly view Kansas City as a level above Minnesota on that side of the ball despite the numbers saying otherwise.
San Francisco's offense has remained one of the most efficient in the NFL even without Christian McCaffrey and with YAC becoming an increasingly minor part of the 49ers' approach this season. Regardless of whether the 49ers' opinion of the Kansas City defense is accurate, they will clearly feel even better about their attack if they can find a way to score enough points to at least put some of their Super Bowl pain behind them.
Related: Deebo Samuel headlines long list of 49ers concerns on first injury report for rematch with Chiefs
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