49ers running game presents unique challenge for Chiefs defense

Steve Spagnuolo talked to reporters about the unique challenge that the San Francisco 49ers run game creates for the Kansas City Chiefs defense.

With several days still to come before the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers square off in Super Bowl LIV, K.C. defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo let reporters in on what is occupying his mind before the big game: the Niners running backs.

In the course of a single season, the Chiefs have gone from a laughingstock of a run defense to being the only team who could halt Derrick Henry’s momentum. That in itself is a major win for a defense that was remade on the fly in a single offseason, including the leadership. Despite all of their growth, however, the 49ers running game presents a different issue entirely.

“San Francisco’s got a bunch of guys they can put back there to hand the ball off to. I mean, last week we were really concentrated on one number: 22,” said Spagnuolo in his press conference on Wednesday, in reference to Henry.

Specifically, the Niners have a splendid trio of backs, each of whom are fast and capable of carrying the load. Tevin Coleman is the lead back, brought over from the Atlanta Falcons, and he’s a quick and elusive back who is dangerous in space. Matt Breida is even faster than that, one of the single fastest-timed players in the NFL in the last couple years (almost on par with Chiefs wideout Tyreek Hill).

This last Sunday, NFL fans saw the emergence of Raheem Mostert in the wake of an injury to Coleman. Instead of Breida, it was Mostert who ran for 220 yards and 4 touchdowns in an incredible performance that further showcased the depth of the Niners backfield. It was also a testament to head coach Kyle Shanahan’s brilliance in how he employs his players to succeed the most.

“It appears to us that [Shanahan] will look at the defense he’s playing and attack with those particular runners,” said Spagnuolo. “It may not be what we saw, what they ran against Green Bay last week or Minnesota the week before. I think he’s really good at that. We’ll have to figure that out early and try to control that.”

According to Spagnuolo, the power running style of Derrick Henry in the team’s previous win over the Titans was actually a different challenge, but one that enabled the Chiefs to take advantage of the fact that Henry was slower to get rolling (although he was also much tougher to bring down). The overall speed of the Niners will present an issue to the Chiefs defense in the same way the K.C.’s speed on offense has been rolling over defenses for the last two years.

“One of the things we tried last week was to get there before the running back got started. With these guys, that’s a challenge. They’re really good at it. We’re gonna have to come up with a couple things to slow it down,” he said.

Geoff Schwartz says the Niners running game is relentless given the overall talent there, so he wouldn’t expect the Niners to abandon it, even if they do fall behind a bit.

On the year, Mostert had 772 rushing yards, 8 touchdowns, and a 5.6 yards/carry average. Breida fell in right behind him with 623 yards and a 5.1 yards/carry average. Finally Coleman had 544 rushing yards, 6 touchdowns, and a 4.0 yards/carry average. On the year, the team ran for 2,305 yards on the ground, over 500 yards more than their competitors.