SANTA CLARA — When the 49ers host the defending champion Kansas Metropolis Chiefs on Sunday, the very best recommendation is to easily benefit from the present slightly than seek for far-reaching implications.
As a result of barring catastrophic damage to both quarterback, this 12 months’s Tremendous Bowl rematch in all probability received’t have a lot bearing on how both staff does when it comes to its final aim of successful Tremendous Bowl LIX on Feb. 9 in New Orleans.
Successful is all the pieces within the NFL, however oddsmakers see the Chiefs 5-0 report as toothless sufficient that they’re a 1 1/2-point underdog coming in to Levi’s Stadium in opposition to the 49ers, who at 3-3 haven’t lived as much as anybody’s expectations. Particularly their very own.
It’s solely Week 7, however the chances are this — Kansas Metropolis goes to win its tenth consecutive AFC West title and the 49ers will in all probability win the NFC West regardless of beginning in an 0-2 gap in opposition to the Rams and Cardinals within the division.
That’s going to occur it doesn’t matter what transpires on Sunday. If the Chiefs win once more, it furthers the Patrick Mahomes-Andy Reid storyline of dominance in opposition to Kyle Shanahan with a fifth straight victory. If the 49ers win, it elevates Brock Purdy into the Mahomes dialog and serves as a springboard to a different late season run ending with third straight NFC Championship Recreation look.
Neither will essentially be true, however that’s the factor about storylines. They’re rewritten each week and sometimes don’t have any relation to what truly occurs over the course of a season.
Gamers and coaches perceive this, particularly those that have performed deep into the postseason. Followers and media? Not a lot.
The Chiefs can survive an everyday season loss to the 49ers and not using a stain on their status and nonetheless make it to the Tremendous Bowl. The 49ers can lose to Kansas Metropolis for the fifth straight time within the Shanahan period and a loss to an AFC opponent might have an effect on total seeding however shouldn’t stop them from successful a weak division.
Whereas it might put a whole lot of minds comfortable among the many Devoted ought to the 49ers all of the sudden spring to life and put a shock beating on the Chiefs, it does little to salve the injuries of final Feb. 11 in Las Vegas and the 25-22 extra time defeat.
“We could beat them by 100 and we’re not popping champagne and confetti’s not going to fall,” left sort out Trent Williams mentioned Thursday. “So why even carry that grudge?”
Within the massive image, the 49ers aren’t juggernauts at 4-3 any greater than they’re failures at 3-4.
For inflated significance, look no additional than Dec. 3 a 12 months in the past. A street sport in Philadelphia was hyped as a 49ers campaign after dropping 31-7 within the NFC title sport with Purdy exiting early with a shredded proper elbow.
The Eagles have been 10-1, the 49ers 7-3, and 49ers gamers have been saying the identical issues about vengeance they’re this week with Kansas Metropolis up subsequent.
Brock Purdy (13) eludes Fletcher Cox (91) in a 42-19 street win by the 49ers over the Philadelphia Eagles final Dec. 3. A.P. Picture
Right here was Purdy on Thursday:
“We’re not trying to go out and get our revenge and all that stuff. I think if it was we wouldn’t be able to play at our best, at our standard.”
Right here was Purdy from final December:
“Am I going to go into the game saying I want revenge and all this kind of stuff? It’s not like that. I’m just going to try to go do my job and be the best I can be for this team.”
Right here was tight finish George Kittle Thursday:
“You can’t live in the past, you can’t look into the future, you have to live for the moment and now. This a different game, a lot of similar players but it’s a different team. We’re a different team a little bit too.”
Right here was Kittle main into the Eagles sport:
“It’s a different game. I’m not holding on to anything that happened last year.”
What the 49ers did to the Eagles that day underscores the folly making too massive a deal out of a sport when there’s a lot of the season left to be performed. And that one didn’t occur till Week 13.
It was a giant deal for the Eagles, as a result of they fell aside in some unspecified time in the future throughout the 42-19 loss because the 49ers have been scoring touchdowns on six consecutive possessions and by no means recovered. The Eagles misplaced 5 of their final six together with a 32-9 playoff loss to Tampa Bay and nonetheless don’t look proper this season.
As for the 49ers, it might be argued they weren’t the identical both. Sure, they stored successful, however when it comes to peak efficiency the Philadelphia sport was pretty much as good because it acquired.
The 49ers muddled by way of wins over Seattle and Arizona, acquired thumped by the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas night time, clinched the highest seed with a so-so street win in opposition to Washington after which rested starters in a meaningless loss to the Rams.
Within the playoffs, the 49ers got here from behind to beat Inexperienced Bay and Detroit, which beat the choice, nevertheless it’s not like their greatest soccer was on show for these eight quarters main in to the Tremendous Bowl loss to the Chiefs.
Kansas Metropolis, then again, didn’t peak till it acquired into the postseason. The identical day the 49ers misplaced to the Ravens, the Chiefs have been getting crushed up by the Raiders, of all groups, falling 20-14 on the website the place they’d win their second straight Lombardi Trophy. They didn’t get a bye, however they didn’t lose once more and received a pair of street video games in opposition to at Buffalo and Baltimore.
Each the 49ers and Chiefs have been completely different within the postseason than they have been whilst late as December and it’s prone to be that method once more.
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“You can’t get back to the Super Bowl by beating the Chiefs this weekend,” former 49ers quarterback Steve Younger mentioned on his weekly look on KNBR.
Nor can the 49ers be eradicated. So what we have now are two of the NFL’s greatest franchises of current years in a possible common season traditional and an opportunity for the 49ers to check themselves. It doesn’t go a lot farther than that.
For a sport in late October, that’s about pretty much as good because it will get.
