Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs continue to embarrass the 49ers

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Kansas City Chiefs will play the remainder of the season without their top two wide receivers. Their starting lineup is an injured reserve, and the Chiefs have serious problems with their offensive attack.

However, the Chiefs still have head coach Andy Reid, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and a defense that provided the foundation for an additional Super Bowl championship. Well, the other 31 NFL teams are second to none.

While the successful San Francisco 49ers have aspirations to be in the class of Kansas City, that will not be happening, as was evident on Sunday afternoon with the visiting Chiefs’ 28-18 victory at Levi’s Stadium.

Before selling out a crowd of 71,309, the Chiefs (6-0) continued their dominance over the 49ers (3-4), remaining undefeated in Mahomes’ five profession starts in the series. After Week 7, there is just one undefeated team left in the NFL – it relies in Kansas City, Missouri.

“You get the best of the best and that prepares you for the playoffs. That’s the most important thing,” Mahomes said. “Whenever you play in tense moments against great NFL teams, you see where you are at. We managed to find a way to win.”

And again, once they faced the Chiefs, the 49ers didn’t do it.

Such a giant failure against the Chiefs under Mahomes has confused the 49ers – and so they don’t even try to deny it.

“Obviously we want to beat the team that has had our number since I’ve been here,” said star defensive end Nick Bosa. “We just didn’t play well enough.”

Two of Kansas City’s victories over San Francisco got here in Super Bowls LIV and LVIII, adding to the hype surrounding the matchup during the regular season. Unlike Mahomes’ previous three starts against the 49ers, when the Chiefs had to rally from double-digit deficits, they controlled the game from the second quarter: Kansas City led by as many as 16 points (28-12) in the second quarter of the fourth quarter. With the game all but decided, San Francisco scored a cosmetic touchdown with just over a minute remaining.

Even with Mahomes’ passing total of just 154 yards, no touchdown passes and two interceptions, the Chiefs offense made enough plays to set the tone for the team. One play early in the fourth quarter was emblematic of how bad things had gone for the 49ers against the Chiefs in the Mahomes era.

Quarterback Brock Purdy’s one-yard touchdown run helped the 49ers cut the Chiefs’ lead to 14-12 early in the third quarter. This was no problem for the Chiefs. Late in the quarter and into the final quarter, Mahomes led a 13-play, 79-yard touchdown drive, punctuated by a roll by 49ers safety Malik Mustafa in the end zone for the final yard on fourth down.

Typically, safeties perform higher in these matchups against quarterbacks. Certainly, each time Mahomes records highlights of his profession, this play shall be a tie-breaker.

“I didn’t actually try to lower my arm. I attempted to absorb the impact because I knew I used to be going to be right in the end zone,” said Mahomes, who also had a 33-yard run three plays earlier that was price watching. “I had enough weight on me when he fell.

“So it wasn’t like I used to be necessarily trying to seek contact. I attempted to absorb it and get to the end zone, but it surely worked out well for me.

After Mahomes’ strong play in the first minute of the fourth quarter, the Chiefs were leading 21-12. Given the way the Chiefs defense was playing, it’d as well have been a 90-point lead.

Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is second to none at his job, and on Sunday, Spagnuolo was cooking as usual again.

Purdy had three interceptions and accomplished only 17 of 31 passes. Although the Chiefs only sacked Purdy once, they pressed him in the pocket when it mattered most. After Mahomes’ touchdown, the Chiefs’ advantage increased, the 49ers drove from the 30-yard line to the Chiefs’ 5-yard line.

On third-and-5, Purdy dropped back to pass and was hit by defensive end George Karlaftis as he began to throw. Safety Jaden Hicks intercepted a pass in the end zone.

Purdy said: “I definitely need to play better, just with my shots and some of my decisions. It’s quite simple.”

Attention to detail is vital in the Chiefs defense. Spagnuolo has a watch for it and “they will always focus on the details,” said Karlaftis, who was the only Chiefs sacker. “Smoothing out, making adjustments and all the things we’d like to improve (every week). I watch it, learn from it and turn out to be a greater team.

The Chiefs gained possession with 9:29 left in the game. With only 3:16 left on the game clock, wide receiver Mecole Hardman made a right-to-left move, took a pass from Mahomes and scored on an 18-yard touchdown to put the Chiefs up.

Hardman, who also returned a punt 55 yards, enjoys playing at Levi’s Stadium. When the teams met here in Week 7 of the 2022-2023 season, Hardman scored three touchdowns (two rushing, one receiving). Hardman also caught an extra time pass in last season’s Super Bowl, giving the Chiefs their third Super Bowl championship in five seasons.

“I think it’s one of those things that happens,” Hardman replied when asked about his success against the 49ers.

The 49ers defense performed poorly against the Chiefs’ running game on Sunday. The Chiefs rushed for 184 yards (for a mean of 4.7 yards per carry). Running back Kareem Hunt threw for 78 yards and two touchdowns.

“They know how to win in a lot of different ways,” Bosa said. “We were hoping for more opportunities to get him (Mahomes) in the second half. To do this, however, you must stop running. We didn’t do that.”

Once again, against a team that dominated them, the 49ers simply didn’t perform well enough. After five straight losses to the two-time defending Super Bowl champions, the 49ers appear no closer to solving their long-running nightmare.