Chapter 1449: Chapter 1448: Coaching Chess Match
"0:7".
San Francisco 49ers in front, Kansas City Chiefs trailing.
In the livestream, Aikman is expressing his views.
"Honestly, any team in the league facing the Kansas City Chiefs needs to be mentally prepared for this, and this score itself is not surprising."
"Of course, falling into such a situation in under a minute is somewhat unexpected. The good news is that the Kansas City Chiefs seem prepared; the bad news, the San Francisco 49ers face a tough spot."
"I believe Kyle Shanahan is prepared for difficulties, but I’m not sure how well-prepared he is, or if this situation was included. After the division and conference finals, this is the most challenging part when facing the Kansas City Chiefs: How many strategies and contingency plans do you need to prepare to outlast and defeat them?"
"Now, the first test has arrived, and the San Francisco 49ers need to stand firm, counterattack, and keep up in the game, but we don’t know what they can manage."
As they speak, the match is reigniting, this time it’s "San Francisco 49ers Offensive group VS Kansas City Chiefs Defense."
The livestream didn’t even have a chance to introduce the starting lineup of the San Francisco 49ers Defense, the ever-changing game has already moved to the next phase, now it’s the turn of the San Francisco 49ers Offensive group.
Fortunately, this time the livestream finally has a chance to complete the introduction.
Like the defensive group, the San Francisco 49ers Offensive group doesn’t have any superstar guards, if the defensive group has Sherman, then the offensive group has Kittel.
George Kittle, the Tight End, is the only superstar in the San Francisco 49ers Offensive group, he is the only player on the team who surpassed a thousand receiving yards, 1053 yards; but the problem is, he only accounted for five touchdowns the entire season, not at all in the same league as the peak periods of Graham or Gronkowski.
No wonder you can barely find any San Francisco 49ers players in this year’s Pro Bowl or All-America First Team/Second Team.
Yet, the San Francisco 49ers stand on the Super Bowl stage.
Despite having no superstars, both the San Francisco 49ers Offensive and Defensive groups adhere to a rotation policy, executing the power of a fifty-three-man roster to its fullest.
The Houston Texans had to stick to a rotation policy this season due to injuries, while the San Francisco 49ers voluntarily implemented the rotation policy, taking it even further by completely abandoning the star player effect, relentlessly embracing blue-collar collaboration on both the offensive and defensive ends.
Thus, this scene appeared.
Raheem Mostert, Matt Breida (Matt-Breida), Tevin Coleman (Tevin-Coleman), the trio dubbed as the "Running Back Committee," because their season carry numbers are nearly identical and their rushing yards are all between five hundred and seven hundred, yet each possesses a different style, taking on different roles in different moments—
Completely chess pieces in Shanahan’s hands, yet capable of truly charging forward.
Furthermore, the wide receiver Deebo-Samuel (Deebo-Samuel) occasionally moonlights as a running back, leading to nearly two hundred rushing yards this season.
At the same time, the Fullback Kyle Yushchek’s role also breaks boundary lines, a fullback is also a running back, he is a traditional power back which is gradually fading away, yet this Yushchek rarely runs, instead, he mostly serves as a ground support blocker, occasionally moonlighting as a...wide receiver.
Making it hard to defend against.
Therefore, in the two playoff games, the 49ers’ ground game utterly destroyed the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers, the two giants in the National League North.
In this regard, Shanahan openly admitted, "The inspiration came from Li Wei."
There is only one Li Wei, a unique existence, yet Li Wei’s sudden rise filled the running back role with endless possibilities, sparking Shanahan’s imagination.
Similarly, the role of a wide receiver is the same.
While Kittel and Samuel play key roles in receiving, it’s hard to believe that Kittel’s main task involves ground blocking, and Samuel needs to moonlight as a running back.
The other wide receivers are all just role players, responsible for executing Shanahan’s dazzling passing and running routes, with nine receiving players all having over a hundred yards. Additionally, four core role players have over three hundred receiving yards each, along with Kittel and Samuel, forming Shanahan’s tactical powerhouse.
Actually, Reed is the same.
On some level, both Shanahan and Reed are tactical enthusiasts, especially with the short pass strategy, pushing the West Coast offense strategy to the forefront, renowned in the league for the thickness and complexity of their tactical manuals.
The difference is that Reed still believes in player personal abilities; apart from Li Wei, the personal abilities of Hill, Kelsey, and the potential of Watkins, Hardman, cannot be ignored; whereas Shanahan takes complete control, transforming a football game into a chess match.
It is for this reason that analysts are emphasizing one point, does Shanahan trust Garoppolo? How much does he trust him? This might become the key to determining the Super Bowl’s outcome.
When the San Francisco 49ers Offensive group took the field, including Aikman in the live room and Lawson from ESPN’s "Within the League," they all believed in one thing:
In the face of an unexpected onslaught, the San Francisco 49ers need to quickly stabilize, and Shanahan is logically expected to choose a consistent ground attack.
However, Shanahan did not—
Opening with a modern outside zone attack system, but Garoppolo did not hand the football to the running back committee, instead, he chose to pass himself.
Fake run, real pass.
Fake run, real pass.
And still...fake run, real pass.
Reliant on beautiful ground cover, the San Francisco 49ers orchestrated their short passing routes to exploit openings, with Garoppolo completing three passes out of three—
Pass completion rate of 100%.
Of course, not without shortcomings, Garoppolo released quickly but wasn’t greedy, often making three or five-yard short passes, with a quick release and seamless connection.
In other words, short, high-frequency, quick release, but low efficiency in advancing, sacrificing advancement efficiency for pass attack success rate.
The Kansas City Chiefs Defense was highly focused, although emphasizing ground defense, Reed also anticipated Shanahan’s formation change, using zone defense to weave a line of defense, quickly stepping up to complete the defense after the target received Garoppolo’s pass, striving to avoid losing big yards.
It’s back and forth, a duel between the coaches, Shanahan with situational adaptability and Reed cunningly responding with consistency.
Thus, although Garoppolo completed three passes out of three, with impressive statistics, the San Francisco 49ers found themselves in a third gear two-yard situation, finally relying on Garoppolo’s connection with Kittel to execute a third gear transition, entangling back and forth for almost two minutes, and Garoppolo led the 49ers to advance...
Eleven yards.
Wait, is this normal?
Why is the advancement efficiency of the passing offense lower than the ground offense? Something’s not right, is it?
The situation suddenly became interesting, like a ping-pong game, the small white ball quickly flying back and forth, maintaining the same rhythm and frequency, with even the spin not seeing too many tricks, both sides caught in a stalemate back and forth, and for a moment it is unclear who holds the advantage.