The Chiefs outplayed the 49ers in the Super Bowl rematch 28-18 and continued their winning streak 6-0. Despite a dominant victory, Patrick Mahomes pursued his statistically subpar season as Brock Purdy and Co struggled to score points.
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While Mahomes was intercepted twice, the 49ers QB also didn’t put up promising numbers. Reflecting on these intricacies of the game, veteran Super Bowl champion Tom Brady voiced the evident blunders during the mega clash.
Patrick Mahomes had the lowest passer rating of his career (44.4) in Week 7. He noted that teams believe if they can hold Mahomes to a QBR of 44 and there are few quarterback scrims, the victory is an obvious answer.
However, in the Chiefs vs the 49ers clash, the latter faced other issues, as pointed out by Brady:
“But, Purdy’s got three interceptions, too many mistakes, special teams wise by the 49ers. It all catches up to, especially if you are dealing with so many injuries.”
Brady highlighted the evident errors the last season’s runners-up committed. One of the issues in the 49ers offense became apparent when Purdy threw the third-down pass, but was intercepted by rookie Jaden Hicks. As Tom Brady pointed out during the game, this red-area problem was “way worse than an incompletion.”
This also lowered the passer rating for the QB to 27.2. While Purdy was struggling to throw the ball, the special teams missed the kicks after the touchdown in the third quarter. Not only this, but the team has been battling injuries.
The top wide receivers – Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk couldn’t play the entire match. While Samuel was down with an illness and couldn’t push past three plays in the first quarter, Aiyuk suffered a brutal hit to his knee in the second quarter and left the game post that.
Overall, the absence of these arsenals including Christian McCaffrey and Jauan Jennings sitting out has doubled the pressure on Purdy. Even though he entered the game with better stats than Mahomes in terms of interceptions as well as touchdowns, the Chiefs’ defense submerged any comeback hopes for the 49ers.
The Chiefs true strength is their defense
Undeniably, Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid are two big guns in the Chiefs unit. However, this season has proved that the team’s defense has been leading the charge. In their six victories, they have curtailed the teams to less than 30 points and restricted QBs like Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow.
As Tom Brady pointed out, “It’s just complementary football.” The Chiefs are capitalizing on their defense, especially the young players like Chris Roland-Wallace and Jaden Hicks, who intercepted Brock Purdy twice and took pressure off the Chiefs’ offense.
Brady further added:
“And this entire offense knows the defense on the other side of the ball is going to limit points, is going to limit yards. So you don’t need to be overly aggressive…. They did so many little screens in there that challenge you to be right on top of your details if you’re the 49ers defense.”
From the play, Brady extracted that once the men in red and white got the lead, it was like watching “low-risk plays with high rewards.” The last touchdown is a specimen of the same, as Hardman sailed through the defense and comfortably contributed points to the team.
