The Kansas City Chiefs haven’t played their best football this season.
They’re still the only undefeated team left in the National Football League.
Patrick Mahomes has been held without a touchdown pass in back-to-back games, and he’s thrown at least one pick in every single game this season.
Even so, they still dominated the San Francisco 49ers on the road with a 28-18 rout, handing them their fifth consecutive defeat in the head-to-head matchup.
As pointed out by NFL Network on X, it has a lot to do with Steve Spagnuolo’s defense.
Ever since he took the reins of the defense, the Chiefs have gone a perfect 4-0 vs. the Niners.
The Chiefs have allowed 20.8 points per game against them, all while forcing 2.5 turnovers per game.
They have held the Niners to a 35.6% conversion percentage on third-down, and they’ve held their quarterbacks to a 75.1 passer rating.
If those numbers weren’t impressive on their own, the fact that those are all league-bests among 13 teams to face the Niners at least three times since 2019 is only more remarkable.
Granted, the Niners haven’t been the same dominant force this season as they’ve been in years past, but still.
The road to the Super Bowl runs through Kansas City.
If the Niners want to get the monkey off their backs and finally win another Super Bowl, Kyle Shanahan and company will need to figure out a way to neutralize Spagnuolo’s defense.
So far, they haven’t been able to crack the code, not even with their offensive behemoth of a team.
