Behind Enemy Lines: Super Bowl LVIII edition

The 49ers and Chiefs faced off in the Super Bowl just four seasons ago, and they met again last season at Levi’s Stadium. Despite a couple of recent meetings, both teams enter Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday pretty dramatically different from either of those other matchups.

To get a better grasp on what Kansas City has done this season, we hit up Chiefs Wire editor John Dillon to get his insight on the 49ers’ Super Bowl opponent:

Niners Wire: Why have the Chiefs struggled against the run this season?

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JD: The Chiefs’ woes against the run have been an ongoing theme for several seasons. Despite having one of the NFL’s best linemen in Chris Jones and a bevy of young defensive talent, Kansas City seems to be more content in containing the pass than committing to stopping the run. I wish I had a better explanation for this one, but as it stands the Chiefs’ defense is playing with its hair on fire, and exceptional effort seems to cure all ills.

NW: Who, besides Travis Kelce and Rashee Rice, do you trust to make a big play in the passing game?

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JD: Absolutely nobody. Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Mecole Hardman, and Kadarius Toney have been wildly inconsistent this season, and while Patrick Mahomes’ comments to the media certainly don’t indicate a lack of trust, his play makes it seem that receivers not named Kelce or Rice are on thin ice. Justin Watson is solid and can make some pretty impressive catches, but I wouldn’t say he is a “big play” threat. The only true sleeper that comes to mind in this regard is Noah Gray, who has developed into one of Mahomes’ favorite targets as a backup tight end.

NW: What's the biggest reason KC's defense was so good in 2023?

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JD: The Chiefs’ secondary might be the single best sub-unit in the NFL. Justin Reid seems to have turned a corner, Trent McDuffie has proven to be one of the best young cornerbacks in the league, L’Jarius Sneed is an absolute stud against opposing No. 1 receivers, and Mike Edwards has played exceptional football in Bryan Cook’s absence. Kansas City’s pass rush is a force to be reckoned with too, especially when McDuffie gets involved on disguised blitzes. This is to say: I think the play on the back end stirs the pot and everything else follows.

NW: Is there any concern about complacency since the Chiefs won last year?

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JD: Until about a month ago this team looked like a shell of its former self. Their loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Christmas at Arrowhead Stadium killed a part of my soul, and I basically lost faith in Kansas City after blogging that game. They looked “just okay” in basically every game of the regular season (with a few exceptions) but their playoff performances took away any perception of “complacency” for me. This team looks to be as locked in as I’ve ever seen them, so while “complacency” may have been a concern in late December and early January, the word hasn’t been in my lexicon for about a month.

NW: Who's the Chiefs player who doesn't get talked about enough nationally?

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JD: Tershawn Wharton is my favorite sleeper on this team. He played at Missouri S&T which is kind of like the Harvard for us Missouri kids. It’s a pretty small school, one of the ones it feels like you only know about if you’re a high school senior and have a couple of smart friends. Anyway, he played at this Division II relatively tiny school in Rolla, Missouri, and is just an absolute stud. He is big, fast, strong, and has a huge lower half. I mean, the dude is built to play defensive line in the NFL but went to S&T of all places. Anyway, the effort of one highly compensated Chiefs defensive lineman (who shall remain nameless, lest I anger any of Kansas City’s fans who make their way to Niners Wire) tends to come and go, but Wharton is super scrappy and kind of the unnamed star’s foil. Wharton might not be a household name, but I’m just constantly impressed by him when I see him on the field.

NW: No sixth question, just an obligatory Taylor Swift mention.

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JD: Well, I’m taking this non-question as an opportunity to editorialize on the topic because it’s the Super Bowl and we’re in the write-about-football business.

All the bluster about Taylor Swift’s appearances on broadcasts is so overplayed and tired. It seems to me that everyone has a bone to pick with the Chiefs, and if it’s not with the team itself, now the angst has been directed at Ms. Swift.

I’ve watched football with diverse crowds of people. From my late grandmother, Pat, who couldn’t be trusted to hold me as a baby when Kansas City was playing for fear I’d go airborne at a bad penalty call, to the “Man Cave” at my mom’s house where her husband and his friends (who all coached Pop Warner when their kids were younger) painstakingly break down the game and situational football to give Andy Reid advice about clock management through the television, and with by Bills fan buddy who has always been a good sport at my apartment when Buffalo is inevitably dismantled by the Chiefs in the playoffs.

Rarely have I ever seen a fan so engaged in the actual happenings of the game than Swift, who in the space of five months and change has become a yelling, screaming, expletive-hurling mess in whichever suite she occupies. If you, as a football fan, can’t appreciate and relate to her enthusiasm for the game as a relative newcomer, then this sport isn’t for you.

While I’m far from a Swiftie (was listening to Paul McCartney’s “Pipes of Piece” on the way to work today, it is what it is), after watching the now-14-time Grammy winner grow into one of the Chiefs’ most rabid fans, I can’t help but think that the broader discontent with Swift’s minimal appearances on the broadcast have nothing to do with her, and everything to do with a society that rewards anger over inclusion and places more value on outrage than equanimity.

With that said, go Chiefs.