Chiefs handle 49ers in route to NFL's lone unbeaten team

The Kansas City Chiefs (6-0) defeat the San Francisco 49ers (3-4) in California, 28-18 on the backs of takeaways from the defense and red zone execution.

In many ways, the week seven matchup and Super Bowl 54 and 58 rematch between the Kansas City Chiefs (6-0) and San Francisco 49ers (3-4) was a microcosm of the reigning back-to-back champions season thus far. It was not pretty and surely was not clean, but they made plays when it mattered most, were efficient on offense and played dominating defense. 

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes did not throw a touchdown and threw two interceptions, bringing his season totals to six and eight, but that does not tell the story of the game. For the first time this season, the Chiefs won the turnover battle, intercepting 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy three times. On offense, they went eight for 14 on third downs and converted four of their five red zone opportunities. That is how they manhandled San Francisco to the tune of a 28-18 victory on the road. 

The Chiefs scored 14 points off of those turnovers, which made all of the difference. The last one started with a quarterback hit by George Karlaftis, who also sacked Purdy earlier in the game, and ended with a end zone interception by rookie safety Jaden Hicks with just over nine minutes to go in the game. Kansas City then marched down the field for a drive that lasted over six minutes before wide receiver Mecole Hardman ran a jet-sweep off the left side to give the Chiefs a 28-12 lead with just over three minutes to play.

Kansas City’s defense was not quite as stout in the run compared to weeks past, but it was still a very impressive performance considering San Francisco came in with a top-five rushing attack. They limited running back Jordan Mason, who was the league's second-leading rusher, to 58 yards on the ground, and most of those came in the second half. 

“(Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) does a great job with the different schemes and different personnel groups,” head coach Andy Reid said. “ …  But you know, he's the best in the business of what he does, and he did a great job with the scheme part of it and the players love all that stuff. They all get to be a part of it and contribute.”

The most impressive piece of their performance was how out of sorts they made Purdy, the league’s second-leading passer. Purdy was off target all afternoon and ended the day with a 54 percent completion percentage, 212 yards, zero touchdowns and three interceptions, albeit without wide receiver Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk for much of the game. Quite a few of those yards came in garbage time as well. Aside from Hicks, safeties Justin Reid and rookie Christian Roland-Wallace came down with the other two picks. Reid also led the team in tackles with nine. 

“It's (rookies stepping up) everything that we've seen in training camp and the preseason,” safety Justin Reid said. “... Consistent players, humble, very hungry, willing to learn and it shows up and you know they show up ready to go. They never knowing when their numbers called but they're always ready to go. They got to make two big time plays when we needed them to, so we're going to need them down the stretch even more and they're going to show up more for us and we're confident in that. But (Roland-Wallace), getting that the toe drag swag on the sideline and then Jaden Hicks a pick in the end zone. Two big time plays.”

Going back a few seasons, Hardman has had some huge games against the 49ers and Sunday was no different. Not only did he score a touchdown to put the game out of reach, but he also returned a punt 55 yards to give the Chiefs a short field to work with. Just a few plays later running back Kareem Hunt punched in a touchdown to give the Chiefs their first double-digit lead of the day at 14-3. Hardman finished the day with 55 total yards on offense as well. 

On the offensive side, the Chiefs did a nice job controlling the ball, holding onto it over 10 minutes longer than the 49ers and were able to run 12 more offensive plays. Kansas City rushed for 4.7 yards per carry and once again Hunt was the bell-cow, tallying 22 attempts on his way to 78 yards and two touchdowns. Hunt may be providing the Chiefs a way to solve their red zone issues that have plagued them for much of the season, but Reid was just happy his team executed in that area, going four of five when they got down in that area and credited offensive coordinator Matt Nagy on the game plan. 

“The place we did well (in the red zone) was no penalties,” Reid said. “So, I mean that ends up being important when you get down in there and you don't take anything away from yourself and that's kind of hurt us the last few games. It was a great scheme that we used in there. The guys executed well in there, so, all around it was good.”

Mahomes finished going 16 for 27 and 154 yards passing. While he did not have his best day through the air, he made his presence known on the ground and impacted the game without lighting up the box score. In the second half, he broke the pocket and scrambled for a career-high 33 yards as he tight-roped the sideline. That was on the heels of the Roland-Wallace interception and just four plays after the long run, he took off again for a one-yard touchdown run and put a pretty good lick on safety Malik Mustapha as he entered the end zone to give Kansas City a 21-12 lead. 

“I actually was not trying to lower my shoulder,” Mahomes said jokingly. “I was trying to absorb the hit because I knew I was going to be right on the end right there in the end zone. That dad-bod, man. I just had enough weight on me where he went down so it wasn't like I was necessarily trying to seek out contact. I was trying to absorb it and get the endzone and it just ended up looking good for me.”

His leading receiver on the day was tight end Noah Gray, who hauled in four catches for 66 yards. With JuJu Smith-Schuster going down early with a hamstring injury, Mahomes wide receiver weapons quickly dwindled once again. With that, Samaje Perine had the second most yards receiving with just 22. Wide receiver Xavier Worhty brought in three catches while tight end Travis Kelce finished with four. Despite all of this, they were able to score the most points they had all season against one of the premier teams and defenses in the NFL. 

“We were able to run the football,” Mahomes said. “That was big. That's a really good defensive line and the O-line stepped up and we were able to run it down there and we we found a way to get in the end zone and when you get in the end zone, you get points on the board. Now, it's about cleaning up the turnovers. I think if we could do that, we can start hitting our stride.”

“ … We continue to just make strides in the right direction but at the same time we make these mistakes, especially me. We're winning football games, which is awesome but we're going to try to continue to get better.”

Starting cornerback Jaylen Watson went down with an ankle injury and Reid was not extactly optimistic he will return to action soon. Smith-Schuster’s status is up in the air as well. Next up, the Chiefs stay on the road and travel to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders (2-5), their divisional foe. It is the last game before the NFL’s trade deadline where Kansas City will have a chance to upgrade their wide receiver room after all of the injuries. Kickoff is set for 3:25 p.m. CDT.