If there's one thing Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnouolo knows how to do, it's draw up an effective gameplan in the postseason. You only need to go back two weeks to find evidence of that quality, with the Chiefs holding the Baltimore Ravens and MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson to just 10 points in the AFC Championship Game.

But the sage defensive gameplanner knows he has an extremely difficult task on his hands to do the same against a San Francisco 49ers offense that was first in Expected Points Added per play, Success Rate and DVOA in the regular season.

The 49ers' attack has become vastly more dangerous since the acquisition of running back Christian McCaffrey in a mid-season trade last season, with Brock Purdy's ascension to starting quarterback also weaponizing the passing game. 

Purdy's playmaking ability and greater proclivity as a downfield thrower compared to predecessor Jimmy Garoppolo has fundamentally changed the offense, which doesn't just deal in the classic Shanahan staples anymore.

A new major

Indeed, the Niners are not simply a play-action offense anymore, though they do still run it extremely well. The 49ers ranked third in EPA on play-action pass attempts in the regular season, while their positive play rate of 62.1% was first, per Sports Info Solutions. They only had 110 such attempts, however, the fourth-fewest in the NFL.

By contrast, the 49ers had 381 pass attempts without play-action, and led the NFL in both EPA and positive play rate on those throws.

This is an offense that has changed its major with remarkable ease, and Spagnuolo credits much of the Niners' success in that regard to the two players who fueled the 49ers' second half surge in the 2022 season.

"There's a lot of similarities in a good way," Spagnuolo said when asked how the offense had changed since the 49ers met the Chiefs in Super Bowl 54 four years ago. 

"The pass play-action plays look exactly like their runs. So I think that's always challenging. And then they've expanded to in terms of the things they do in the pass game. I just think that the timing of their pass game. I watched the quarterback on a number of plays, on tape, throw the ball way before the receiver has even thought about making a break and then the ball's right there. I just think they're so in sync, and it makes them really tough to defend.

"The quarterback has made that all happen, in conjunction with the weapons they have. Last time we played them they didn't have Christian McCaffrey, he brings a whole nother dynamic to it, because he's another wideout there as well as running back. But I think having the availability to put wideouts to put running backs out at wideout and then you take their wideouts and put them at running back that in of itself makes it tough to defend."

Battle of the multiples

McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel's ability to create matchup nightmares by interchanging between working as a receiver in the formation and operating out of the backfield is well-documented, but Spagnuolo does believe he has a back seven well-equipped to try to contain them.

Spagnuolo added: "The fact that Trent [McDuffie] and LJ [L'Jarius Sneed] can both play inside and outside make us a little bit multiple in what we can do, those two guys in conjunction with our linebackers like Drue Tranquill, Leo Chenal, along with Nick and Willie Gay allow us to do some things that we weren't able to do in previous years."

A lot has changed since then 49ers had their hearts broken by the Chiefs in Super Bowl 54. 

One thing that hasn't is Spagnuolo's prowess for rising to the big game occasion. No coordinator on either side of the ball can claim to have as impressive of a track record for finding game-winning answers on the grandest stage, but the 49ers will hope their new dynamics give Spagnuolo more problems than he can find solutions for.

Fred Warner perfectly sums up his challenge against Patrick Mahomes

He has to overcome it.