The San Francisco 49ers won't be thinking about it yet, but there is the small matter of a rematch of Super Bowl 58 looming on the horizon.

San Francisco will face the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 7 following this Sunday's Week 5 clash with the Arizona Cardinals and a Thursday Night game with the Seattle Seahawks in Week 6.

And the 49ers will not have to worry about the Chiefs' best receiving threat when they welcome the team that has twice denied their Super Bowl dreams to Levi's Stadium.

The Chiefs announced on Thursday that wide receiver Rashee Rice will go on injured reserve with the knee injury he suffered during Kansas City's victory over the Los Angeles Chargers last Sunday.

That means he will miss at least the next four games, with the Chiefs still to confirm the severity of an injury sustained when quarterback Patrick Mahomes inadvertently hit his knee in a tackle attempt on an interception return by the Chargers.

Rice led all Chiefs receivers in 2023 with 79 receptions, 938 receiving yards, and seven touchdown catches. His 24 receptions for 288 yards and two touchdowns in 2024 also led the team in all categories through the season's first three games.

Without Rice, the Chiefs have the following receivers on the roster:

• Xavier Worthy
• Justin Watson
• JuJu Smith-Schuster
• Mecole Hardman
• Skyy Moore

The 49ers held Rice in check for most of Super Bowl 58 in February, though he did have a critical 13-yard catch on a third down on the game-winning drive in overtime for Kansas City.

Without him, Worthy would appear to be the main threat for a Chiefs team that has struggled to get tight end Travis Kelce going so far this campaign.

San Francisco has only allowed nine pass plays of 20 yards or more across the first four weeks of the season, but the average distance of those pass plays is 40.2 yards, the highest in the NFL.

The threat of the shot play with Worthy will be considerable against the 49ers, while Watson, Smith-Schuster and Hardman have all found some success against San Francisco in the past for Kansas City.

San Francisco's biggest issue on defense against the Chiefs, however, may still concern Kelce. The 49ers' linebackers outside of Fred Warner have struggled in coverage so far this season. If Kelce gets matched up against De'Vondre Campbell or Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles in coverage, the loss of Rice might not matter.

But, on paper, Rice being taken out of equation should give the 49ers' secondary a clear edge in a matchup San Francisco desperately needs to win to prove it can slay the dragon after two Super Bowl losses to Kansas City.

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The Niners are expected to dominate.