Chiefs vs. 49ers will be fourth Super Bowl rematch among head coaches all-time, and KC has history on its side
After the final buzzer went off at M&T Bank Stadium, where the Baltimore Ravens reside, thoughts of who the Kansas City Chiefs would play next started to arise. It was either going to be the Detroit Lions or the San Francisco 49ers, as both played in the NFC Championship game just an hour after the […]
After the final buzzer went off at M&T Bank Stadium, where the Baltimore Ravens reside, thoughts of who the Kansas City Chiefs would play next started to arise. It was either going to be the Detroit Lions or the San Francisco 49ers, as both played in the NFC Championship game just an hour after the AFC Championship game finished.
The Chiefs have been to four Super Bowls in the last six years. Had it not been for an offsides call against the New England Patriots or an overtime loss against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Chiefs would be in their sixth-straight Super Bowl.
In this one, which will kick off February 11, the Chiefs will face a familiar foe – an NFC rival they played once before in the Super Bowl. The San Francisco 49ers were the team that allowed the dynasty to start, as they blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 54.
That was Kyle Shanahan's third full season as a head coach of the 49ers and Andy Reid's first-ever Super Bowl. The two have a ton of admiration for one another and even shared praise when they met during that first Super Bowl matchup. Andy Reid himself was in awe at how well Shanahan had done with his team at the time.
"He's done a very nice job," Reid said before Super Bowl 54 a few years ago. "He's a smart kid now. He's sharp. Great for this league. You have this influx of these new coaches with these great minds on both sides of the ball. So that makes this league strong."
Shanahan is 64-51 as the 49ers head coach. A good chunk of the losses came in his first four seasons, where he lost a total of 35 games. Shanahan, like Reid, is known for his offensive mind, though. Both guys have been known to be geniuses on that side of the ball. We saw a bit of that in the first Super Bowl, which forced the defenses to step up on both sides.
Ultimately, as we all know, the Chiefs won that Super Bowl 31-20. The Chiefs found themselves down by 10 in the fourth quarter but won by 11 off the backs of plays by Patrick Mahomes and Damien Williams. Now, almost everything is different, besides the fact both teams will be wearing the same uniform combinations that they did then.
The Chiefs still have Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Chris Jones, while the San Francisco 49ers still have George Kittle, Arik Armstead, Nick Bosa, and Deebo Samuel. Other than that and maybe a few other players on both sides, everything is very different.
But the coaches are the same. This is the fourth time in NFL history that there has been a head coaching rematch in the Super Bowl. The other times are as follows:
Chuck Noll-Tom Landry
Jimmy Johnson-Marv Levy
Tom Coughlin-Bill Belichick
Shanahan and Reid are two of the best coaches in the league. Now, they will get a second duel on the biggest stage in football. The real question is, who's going to win the coaching battle, because last time Shanahan fumbled the lead.
