By Ron Griffitts
Contributing columnist
On Feb. 2, 2020 in Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida the Kansas City Chiefs (14-4) coached by Andy Reid with offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy met the San Francisco 49ers (15-3) coached by Kyle Shanahan with Robert Saleh as defensive coordinator.
The Chiefs were led on offense by 24-year old Patrick Mahomes who passed for 4031 yards and 26 touchdowns with a 105.3 passer rating, running backs Damien Williams (498 yards, 5 TD’s) and LeSean McCoy (465 yards, 4 TD’s) and receivers Tyreek Hill (860 yards, 7 TD’s), Sammy Watkins (673 yards, 3 TD’s) and Travis Kelce (1229, 5 TD’s)
They were led on defense in tackles by Tyrann Mathieu with 63, Anthony Hitchens with 51, Damien Wilson with 52 and Charvarius Ward with 56. Their sacks leaders were Chris Jones with 9 and Frank Clark with 8. Tyrann Mathieu led in interceptions with 4.
The kicker was Harrison Butker who converted on 34 of 38 field goal attempts.
San Francisco was led by quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo who threw for 3978 yards and 27 touchdowns with a passer rating of 102.0, running backs Tevin Coleman (544 yards, 6 TD’s), Raheem Mostert (772 yards, 8 TD’s) and Matt Breida (623 yards, 1 TD) and receivers Deebo Samuel (802 yards, 3 TD’s) and George Kittle (1053 yards, 5 TD’s).
They were led on defense by Fred Warner with 89 tackles and Dre Greenlaw with 64, in sacks by Arik Armstead with 10 and interceptions by Richard Sherman with 3. Their kickers were Robbie Gould who made 23 out of 31 tries and Chase McLaughlin who made 7 of 8.
The 49ers got on the board in the first quarter with a 38-yard field goal by Robbie Gould to give San Francisco a 3-0 lead. On the next series of plays, Patrick Mahomes directed his team to the 49ers’ five-yard line from where he ran it in for the touchdown. They converted the extra point for a 7-3 Kansas City lead.
In the second quarter Harrison Butker kicked a 31-yard field goal for a 10-3 Chiefs’ lead. With five minutes left in the half, Jimmy Garoppolo found Kyle Juszczyk for a 15-yard scoring pass play and the teams go into halftime tied 10-10.
The 49ers scored on another Robbie Gould field goal and a Raheem Mostert one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and the game continued into the fourth quarter with San Francisco leading 20-10 with less than seven minutes left in the game.
But at their own 35-yard line on a 3rd and 15, Mahomes found Tyreek Hill for a 44-yard pass play and that together with a 20-yard pass interference call brought the Chiefs to the San Francisco one-yard line. Mahomes completed a one-yard TD pass to Travis Kelce. The extra point was good and with 6:17 left in the game San Francisco still led 20-17.
The 49ers had to punt on their next series and Mahomes and the Chiefs got the ball back at their own 35. Seizing on the momentum of the previous drive, they went down the field and scored with 2:50 left on the clock on a five-yard Mahomes pass to Damien Williams and the Chiefs took the lead 24-20.
On the next series, Jimmy Garoppolo got the 49ers to the Kansas City 49-yard line before he stalled out with three incomplete passes and a sack and the Chiefs got the ball back. Damien Williams scored on a 38-yard touchdown run and the Chiefs win 31-20 after scoring three touchdowns in the final seven minutes of the game.
Patrick Mahomes got the game MVP and the Chiefs were back the following year while the 49ers have not been back since 2020.
Statistics for this article were from pro-football-reference.com.
