Verderame: 49ers Really Need To Beat The Chiefs

How are you? Doing well, J.R. How are you?

I'm excellent. Thank you for taking the time to join us. I guess what are your thoughts on this Super Bowl rematch? You know, we see the Chiefs coming in, some injuries to Rasheer Rice and you got Kareem Hunt taking over for Pacheco. What are your thoughts on what the Chiefs have done up until now, what they got in store for the Niners? You know, I think it's a really interesting game J.R. from this standpoint.

You know, I think it's very important for San Francisco. If the Chiefs lose the game, what you're 5-1, you lost probably the toughest game on the schedule. It's a non-conference road game.

Fine. The 49ers are 3-3. And while I think we all believe they will eventually pull away and win this division, it's about more than that. They've got to start thinking about, okay, well, what about cheating?

What about the one sheet? You know, the NFC North, they're going to have some competition. And for Kyle Shanahan, he is 0-4 against the Chiefs in his career. And Mahomes has lit them up.

The average is 363 passing yards a game. I mean, the Chiefs have beaten them soundly in both regular season matchups and then obviously in close games, both Super Bowls, they've seen each other. For the Chiefs, you know, I think Kansas City is a little bit misunderstood nationally and I get why, but they're a defensive team. Like the Chiefs are about their defense and they have Mahomes, it sounds weird to say, they have Mahomes almost in reserve.

Like if they need him, okay, fine. Let Pat take the game over. But defensively, they're as dominant as anybody in football on that side. And so I think, you know, this is a game where the Niners have been great on offense. Can they put up points? I mean, nobody's put up 30 on the Chiefs this year. Nobody's put up 35 on the Chiefs in two years. Can the Niners get toward that 30 point mark?

Well, Matt, let me ask you this question. We know for years, you think about the Kansas City Chiefs. You look at the offense, how dynamic it was, and you looked at a defense that was pretty much average in the middle of the pack.

What has changed for them to now be sitting at number two in points allowed per game? The trade of Tyreek Hill really was the fulcrum point for them. And it took a little while to catch up because they traded them prior to the 2022 season. And that year Mahomes went crazy at 5,200 passing yards, one MVP, and they had a great offense.

But, you know, last season, that offense is not good, at least by their standards. I mean, anybody who watched them, they struggled. They struggled a lot.

They did not have receivers that they could rely on. And so I think, you know, going into the season, their big bet was on Hollywood Brown, and then the maturation of she-Rice, along with Xavier Worthy being that first round pick. And Worthy looked good.

He played well. He's had some big touchdowns and big spots. But Rice is out for the year. Brown is out for at least most of the year.

Kind of depends. You talk to some people at that team, they think maybe he comes back around Christmas, but it's an uncertainty. And so you have this team that they can't play the way they play the tired kill. But in that trade of sending him to Miami, they've got a bunch of picks. They've got five draft picks. And some of those picks turned into Trent McDuffie and George Karloff, and they were able to keep Chris Jones. And they were able to get a guy like a Jalen Watson in the seventh round. And they were able to get Leo Chanal in the third round and Brian Cook in the second round.

I mean, it just set them up. They drafted really, really well. And so now this defense is fantastic. And the offense is basically, hey, look, guys, go score 24 points.

If you do that, you're basically never going to lose. And that's the way they built this team. And obviously, it's worked to this point. Matt Verteram is here joining us on the Infinity Sports Network from Sports Illustrated. Do you believe the Chiefs will stand pat given everything you just said by the time the trade deadline rolls around on November 5th?

No, J.R., I don't. I think they're going to make a move for a receiver. You know, you talk to people around the league, you talk to people around the team.

I mean, that's pretty much the general expectation. They have two third round picks. They have their own and they have Tennessee's because of the Lagerius knee trade. And that's based on the way Tennessee has played this year, looking like it's going to be a pretty good pick. I don't think the Chiefs will move that selection unless they feel like they have no other choice. I think they'd much rather obviously trade their own third rounder, maybe even a fourth rounder, although I think with them, because of where they're going to pick, their third is probably more conducive. But you look around the league and I wrote about this about a week ago for us.

There's a lot of guys. Adams obviously off the board, as is Mark Cooper. I think Deontay Johnson makes a lot of sense for the Chiefs. He's 28 years old.

They typically like to bring in guys under the age of 30 if he fits there. They tried to trade for him this offseason, but the Steelers would not trade with the Chiefs, so he ends up going to Carolina. He's not going to stay in Carolina after this year.

At least that's not the expectation. Of course, things are going to change, but he's a free agent after this season. I think the Chiefs are going to be aggressive there. I think Deontay Johnson's a target. If they don't land him, they could look at a guy like Darius Slayton in New York, another guy entering into his contract year here under 30 years old. The Giants and Chiefs have made trades before with these regimes. We saw Kadarius Toney go for a third round pick to the Chiefs a couple years back. Those would be a couple guys I'd look at and say that would make sense for the Chiefs. Tutu Atwell, another guy with the Rams. Demarcus Robinson played for the Chiefs.

He's not the impact guy I mentioned here with some of the other names, but the Chiefs would love to get the band back. They don't look at Juju Smith-Shuster, they don't look at Kareem Hunt. I think they have a lot of options. Matt, you talk about all the trades that did take place.

Earlier this week, it was just off to the races. The Jets get Adams, and you talk about Cooper to the Buffalo Bills. What team do you think has the best chance of knocking the Chiefs off the perch in hopes of three-peating? This is probably a really surprising answer based on their record. I think it's Cincinnati. I still think it's Cincinnati.

Wow, okay. Because, Jared, they know how to play him. So if you ask me who I think the second best team in the conference is, I would tell you I think it's Baltimore. But Baltimore, it's a horrible match for them when they play the Chiefs. The Chiefs play more press man coverage than anybody in football, and they are willing and they do it every time they see the Ravens.

They will sit in press man, they have no fear of them throwing the ball, and they put seven-eight guys down the box. And the Ravens have not had an answer. The Ravens are also struggling mightily against the pass this year, and that is not where you want to be against the Mahomes, even with the receiving core the way it is. Cincinnati has beaten them in a big spot before. They are three and two with burrow facist Mahomes. They could very easily have been four and one if they had held on earlier this year. The Bengals present problems for the Chiefs, just the way that they play. Houston is kind of the team that I look at and say it's hard to give an answer to that because they're a younger team. Stroud has never played the Chiefs, so you don't know exactly what that match will look like. I just worry about Stroud in his first game against Spagnuolo.

Like, what does that look like? That is a lot. Guys typically struggle against that defense the first time or two they see him, especially at Arrowhead. So I think Cincinnati, I think Buffalo got better, no question. I think the Bills are a real threat, but the Chiefs are 3-0 in the playoffs against them. And the Chiefs, if you look at those games, have just slaughtered Buffalo's defense.

They do it every time they see them. And the Bills defense this year has not been great. So I actually think if the Bengals can get themselves right, they're still the team the Chiefs would tell you they'd at least like to see in a playoff game.

Matt Verderam is joining us from Sports Illustrated. You mentioned the Texans, and we see that they've continued on the path where they started last year with Ryan being a head coach and Stroud. The Vikings also this year with Sam Donald. What team that surprised so far this season, or at least a young emerging team, do you think is bound to hit a little bit of a wall?

It may turn into a pumpkin. Yeah, I mean, so based on that, right, I think Houston's absolutely legit. We saw that last year.

Minnesota is a candidate for that. I don't know if you want to throw Denver in that mix, I mean a 4-3. Look, I don't believe in Denver strictly based off the fact that I just don't think a ball mix at this point in time is a quarterback who can lead a Connecticut bubble team.

I just don't see that happening. And if you look at Denver's schedule the back half of the year, it's brutal. I think Minnesota's a playoff team.

I don't think Minnesota's a championship team. Well, Darnold, if you watch these games, he hasn't been bad, but he's a little bit of a, for the lack of a better term, a little bit of a passenger in these games. But David, very good defensively.

And look, that's fine. That's how Minnesota's got to play with him. Like, hey man, make three or four throws to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. We're going to get DJ Hockinson back. We're going to run the ball a little bit.

Kevin O'Connell's a really good schemer. That's how we're going to play. But in the playoffs, J.R., that's where it gets tough. And that's why I think we see teams over and over and over, whether it was Brady all those years in New England or the Holmes now. When you've got the quarterback, in the playoffs, that is so important. Whereas you look at Minnesota and when they've got a third and nine and they've got to have it, I don't know that Darnold can do it time and again.

Whereas I think, you know, you look around the other contenders in the league, the most of them have these quarterbacks were all pro level. And I think Washington, Washington might win that division. I don't think Washington through ball defensively, they're terrible, but offensively with Dan Daniels is legitimate.

That kid can play. So I think they could be a 10 win team. And you know, look at the rest of the entities who else has won 10 games, maybe Philly, maybe, but I actually like Washington. Well, Matt, let me ask you this in closing, take a look at the Kansas City Chiefs. You feel confident that they're going to be out there three peating? What are your thoughts on who's going to hoist the Lombardi, given what you've seen so far?

I mean, I think there are probably seven or 18 of a real shot, right? I mean, Kansas City, Baltimore, Buffalo, Houston, Detroit, Green Bay, I think you put in that mix, San Francisco, you know, and then a look, draw another team, you want to maybe take a flyer on Minnesota, if you believe in them or Cincinnati, you think they're going to get right or, you know, whatever the case may be. But it's not a quarter of the league.

I still think I kind of go under the old action of what I've always felt like. And I felt like with New England all those years, until somebody beats the Chiefs, it's them. That team, the thing that's so hard with them is they're so good defensively now that Mahomes doesn't have to do what he had to do early in his career. It was like, hey, you got to score 30. You got to score 31 points. He scores 20 points.

They're going to win a lot of weeks. They score 23 points. And a lot of times in a game that is that low scoring against them, you're going to get to a point in the game where, hey, man, he's got to make one play. He's Patrick Mahomes.

He's probably going to make that play. So I still would take them. They're obviously undefeated. They're in the line early for the one seed. And if they get that one seed, you got to go in there and beat them. That's a lot to ask of anybody in January. Yeah.

Well, I'm here from some history. I wouldn't be mad at seeing them, you know, go three in a row. We'll see what they do. Hey, Matt, where can people follow you and all of your work with SI? Yeah. SI.com. Obviously, check me out there. And then also on Twitter at Matt Bertrand. You can follow me there. I'm on there all the time. I share out my work. So the MMQB podcast I was on this week with Alvin Breer broke down the weekend's game.

So everybody can go there and find my work. And thank you so much, Matt. We'll catch you on down the line. You be well, okay? Hey, you too. Take care.