February Rush

"A pass rush in the fourth quarter is the key to winning NFL football."
                  Bill Walsh

"(W)ith 9:38 showing on the clock their passing attack was over, finito. The team that uses the pass to set up the run went Big Ten. No more passes, not one. Seven straight running plays."
                  Paul Zimmerman on Super Bowl XVI

 "We didn't know what to expect, given the mentality of their coach. Plus, he had that extra week to prepare them." 
                  Reggie Williams of the Cincinnati Bengals after Super Bowl XVI

"Our four linemen are going to have to do it without help... Oh, we'll mix in a stunt or a blitz, just to keep from being static... But out front four guys are going to have to have the game of their lives."
                   Coach Bill McPherson, the night before Super Bowl XIX



Rush the football and rush the quarterback. Will that formula, properly executed, be enough for the 49ers to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV on Sunday? It had better be.

We've seen it played out time and again. When a game is hyped as "the unstoppable force meets the immovable object," look to the other side of the equation for the keys to victory.

Patrick Mahomes is the "unstoppable force." The game's most gifted and prolific quarterback leads an offense that can score at any time, in any situation, whether on a long, dispiriting drive or a sudden quick strike downfield. They will face the "immovable object," the game's most dominating and consistent defense, a defense that is back at the full strength that made it the talk of NFL early this season while Mahomes was dealing with a dislocated kneecap. Something's got to give, right?

Likely both will give. Mahomes will make plays, probably a few plays no one else can make, and his offense will score points. The 49er defense will make plays, probably more pressure than Mahomes has seen all year, and some hits in the secondary that will make his receivers long for the defenses of Tennessee and Houston. 

But it says here the game will be decided by what happens when Mahomes is on the sideline and the team in white has the ball. Will Jimmy Garoppolo pilot the 49ers to victory with another Bob Griese impersonation? Or will Jimmy G and his receivers uncork those big plays, often immediately following a sack or a penalty, that broke the backs of good defenses in New Orleans and LA?  Will Raheem Mostert, or Matt Breida, or a recovered Tevin Coleman charge through lanes wide enough to admit EZ-Pass customers, to the point that the KC defense reaches the brink of despair? Or will George Kittle break Jerry Rice's Super Bowl game receiving records in a ferocious display of skill and will, leaving would-be tacklers strewn across the field like dominoes? Can the 49ers hold the ball on offense for 35, even 40, minutes? Will the last half of the fourth quarter see a relentless pass rush, one that Mahomes has handled all day, suddenly overwhelm him, as the realities of too many yards and points to gain plus not enough clock left suddenly break the game decisively our way?  For goodness' sake, will it go into overtime and will Jimmy G then "pull a Brady" and win the game with an unanswerable TD drive, as happened to Mahomes and the Chiefs a year ago?

Kyle Shanahan has had two weeks to prepare for this game, and the execution of his game plan by  his offense, we say, will decide the outcome. We also say, watch out for a not-so-secret weapon named Deebo Samuel. A few big plays from that multi-talented rookie could go a long way toward bringing a sixth Lombardi Trophy back to San Francisco.


That Was Then, This Is Now

49er fans of a certain age will remember the last time the team faced an all-world record-breaking phenomenon of a young quarterback in the Super Bowl. That was Dan Marino, of course, with his Miami Dolphins and his 55 touchdown passes, reaching Super Bowl XIX while staid NFL stalwarts such as Tom Landry and Chuck Noll positively gushed over Marino like teenyboppers at a Justin Bieber meet-'n'-greet.  As we recall, that one turned out OK; Joe Montana had the game of this life and, even more importantly, the 49er front four turned Marino into a sack-absorbing interception-throwing statue. He completed exatly one deep pass downfield over four quarters, and it took a circus catch by his receiver to haul it in. That play helped keep the game competitive through halftime-- until a brutal three-and-out ending with an emphatic sack opened the third quarter and decided the outcome right then and there.

Times have indeed changed. Some of the many hits Marino endured that longest afternoon of his career would be flagged as "roughing-the-passer" today. Some of the aggressive coverage the 49ers' All-Pro secondary dished out would be flagged as "illegal contact" or, worse, "hit on a defenseless receiver" today.  Andy Reid's offense is not as one-dimensional today as was Don Shula's then (and by necessity, we quickly note; the great coach would have designed a balanced attack if he had the players to do it). Mahomes, as we all saw last weekend, can break out and run for twenty, thirty yards or more when he has to, as Joe Montana himself did that day in 1985. Mahomes is much more a combination of Montana's and Marino's skills and athleticism than he is a carbon copy of Number 13. 

No, the reason for all this blather is simply to deflate the idea that any one player, no matter how great, is unstoppable. What does it mean to "stop" Mahomes? It's unlikely any defense can stop him from gaining yards and scoring touchdowns. But until proven otherwise, we believe there is a defense out there that can keep him from taking over a game, and the only defense left with that capability is the 49ers'. If the San Francisco offense can compress Mahomes' opportunity window to 25 minutes or less, and if the game is close in the fourth quarter, we believe "stop" will be defined in the simplest manner: not allowing him to generate enough points to win the game. 

And if all those things happen and Patrick Mahomes still makes the game-winning plays-- well, then we'll have to rethink this whole "unstoppable" business after we doff our hats.

But unless and until that moment comes, we believe it will be a Niner Boogie on Super Sunday!