3 Super Bowl X-Factors for the San Francisco 49ers

After a roller-coaster day of NFL Conference Championships, Super Bowl LVIII in "Fabulous" Las Vegas finally has its contestants.

As a rematch of Super Bowl LIV in 2020, the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers will once again rumble for ultimate gridiron supremacy. Naturally, the 49ers will be looking to avenge the collapsing loss -- a game that eventually gave quarterback Patrick Mahomes his first Lombardi Trophy.

The upcoming Super Bowl is officially less than two weeks away. If San Francisco is to finally complete its long-drawn "quest for six," which players or position groups can make the winning difference?

With the dust settling from the respective conference title bids, here are my three X-factors for the Niners to flip the script on Kansas City in Super Bowl LVIII.

All NFL odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.

Super Bowl X-Factors: San Francisco 49ers

See here for the Chiefs' Super Bowl X-Factors.

Offensive Newcomers

I'd like to immediately acknowledge that the Chiefs and 49ers have clashed once since meeting in Super Bowl LIV. Still, it is worth looking at the many changes on offense that San Francisco has undergone between 2020 and now.

Most obviously, second-year signal-caller Brock Purdy will start against Kansas City for the first time in his short career. From there, studs Trent Williams, Christian McCaffrey and Brandon Aiyuk were either on different teams or in college when these sides last met in the big game. For the current campaign, all four of these offensive players were either named to the Pro Bowl (that they won't be attending) or NFL All-Pro team.

What "Mr. Relevant" Purdy (league-best 72.7 QBR in 2023) is doing right now is undeniably something special. His second-half actions -- extending plays and picking up vital third downs -- in each of the past two weeks have been game-changing. From there, dynamic athletes CMC and Aiyuk have also been crucial to San Francisco's success; those two combined for 200 all-purpose yards and three scores in the dramatic comeback victory versus the Detroit Lions.

At left tackle, "Big Trent" has proven himself to be one of the top football players of the era. That continued in 2023-24 (garnering a 89.7 overall PFF grade, including 89.9 as a run blocker), which is Williams' 13th professional season.

"Silverback" will look to pave running lanes along the left side for McCaffrey, which has a solid shot to succeed against the Chiefs' run defense that was ranked fifth-worst in the NFL, according to numberFire. Additionally, Williams has allowed only two quarterback sacks dating back to 2021.

As noted, some of these players were on hand when KC won at Levi's Stadium in 2022, but it was also the 49ers' first game after acquiring McCaffrey (with Jimmy Garoppolo still starting for S.F.). If the Niners hope to earn their sixth Lombardi this year, Purdy, CMC, Aiyuk and Williams will need to provide the extra "umph."

Covering The Tight Ends

For this looming matchup between San Francisco and Kansas City, Mahomes and the Chiefs will almost certainly lean on the tight end position. Led by future Hall-of-Famer Travis Kelce, tight ends have been the money group this postseason for KC's offense.

After a somewhat down year (failing to reach 1,000 receiving yards for the first time since 2015), Kelce has turned on the juice for the current playoff run. In the past three games, Taylor Swift's beau has compiled 262 yards while catching three touchdowns. Kelce's receiving prop is a whopping 70.5 yards at FanDuel.

Behind Kelce, tight end Noah Gray has also been a reliable target for Mahomeboy. Standing at 6-foot-3, 240 pounds, Gray will see his share of action due his versatility in the passing game and running game.

The 49ers have had issues covering tight ends recently. In last Sunday's NFC title game, Detroit rookie Sam LaPorta logged eight receptions and 97 yards against the Niners DC Steve Wilks' zone schemes.

Through the recent regular season, the 49ers were just outside the top-10 teams for guarding tight ends. At FanDuel, S.F. surrendered an average of 11.2 fantasy PPG against opposing TEs. Considering they will next face Kelce, who is one of the top players ever at the position, the Niners will need to lock in.

To deal with "Killa Trav," San Francisco will count on different looks from speedy linebackers Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw with assistance from defensive backs Tashaun Gipson and rookie Ji'Ayir Brown. The 49ers -- who have started slow on defense in consecutive weeks -- will need to clamp down on Kelce right out of the gate. Of course, Kelce scored against S.F. in Super Bowl LIV, and he will look do so again with his superstar girlfriend watching from the family suites.

Crashing "Showtime"

Let's not kid ourselves here; Patrick Mahomes is still the most dominant player both in this matchup and league-wide. However, like everyone else that will be in attendance at Allegiant Stadium on February 11th, Mahomes is human. As is the case with any quarterback, "Showtime" can be stopped if you can make him uncomfortable.

Being that this year's Super Bowl will be hosted at the home of the Las Vegas Raiders, this timeless quote from the late great Al Davis applies:

"Somewhere, within the first 5-10 plays of the game, the other team's quarterback must go down. And he must go down hard."

Simply, that translates to one of football's truest concepts -- pressure on the signal-caller leads to good things for a defense.

The 49ers have copious talent in their defensive front. They have had a few slower performances of late, but the rotation of 2022 DPOY Nick Bosa, Arik Armstead, Javon Hargrave, Javon Kinlaw and Chase Young will need to be hyper-productive if they are to take down the reigning-champion Chiefs.

However, the second-half adjustment in the NFC championship of moving Armstead from inside to outside seemed to pay dividends; Motor City scored just seven total points in quarters three and four. Also, that alignment led to Young reentering the game with explosive legs at key moments.

Transparently, this Niners group should be watching film on what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did to Mahomes in Super Bowl LV. The Bucs held KC to nine points in victory while sacking Patrick three times for 27 yards. Still, the Chiefs' offensive line will be up to the challenge. Through the 2023 playoffs, the reigning league MVP has been sacked only twice.

Bosa has -122 odds to record a sack, according to the defensive Super Bowl props at FanDuel, but he'll need some help. To put it bluntly, if Mahomes has a relatively clean uniform by the end of Super Bowl LVIII in Vegas, the 49ers will likely have lost.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.