The Morse Minute: What I loved and hated about Chiefs vs 49ers

After the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers, here are the quick three things that Greg Morse loved and hated about the game.

It was a great “get right” week for the Kansas City Chiefs after last week’s heartbreaking loss to the Buffalo Bills.

Coming into Week 7, many thought the Chiefs might struggle against a rowdy San Francisco 49ers defense. They owned all the right metrics and even got pass rusher Nick Bosa back just in time for Kansas City’s visit.

At first, that seemed to be the case, but Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes quickly did what Mahomes typically does and this time it eerily mirrored the Super Bowl 54 win against these same Jimmy Garoppolo-led 49ers—10 point deficit and all.

Here’s what I loved and what I hated about the Chiefs and 49ers in Week 7.

Things I loved

1. Patrick Mahomes returned to form and lit up one of the best defenses in the NFL. This Super Bowl 54 matchup pretty much had a little bit of everything: Mahomes throwing for over 400 yards, Mecole Hardman getting a hat trick, and the long-awaited connection between Mahomes and MVS. Heck, it even included a classic Butker miss and a phantom penalty to wipe out a touchdown.
2. The defense spotted the 49ers 10 points before going absolutely bananas. Did anyone else jump up and shout, “Safety!” when Frank Clark took down Jimmy G? I certainly did. I’ll be honest though, I spent almost the entire first half asking, “Why is our defense so terrible?” I guess they heard me because they kicked it into high gear before the end of the half.
3. The Chiefs once again proved they don’t need Tyreek Hill. Are you getting tired of the weekly “nobody was sure how the Chiefs offense would handle being without Hill” comments from whoever is calling the game? I know I am. But this week really seemed like sweet poetic justice. At the expense of my fantasy team (JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman rode my bench, while my opponent had MVS), the Chiefs finally showed that Mahomes can sling it with anyone.

Things I hated

1. Travis Kelce was two yards shy of his 32nd 100-yard game. Come on! It was National Tight Ends Day and Kelce was *this* close to tying Rob Gronkowski. Andy Reid even tried to set him up to get the measly 2-yards after he’d sent the backups in, but Kelce dropped the pass. I know it’ll happen sometime this season (and he’ll probably break the record with a 33rd game too), but still, weren’t you a little disappointed?
2. Butker missed another chip shot field goal. Seriously, what’s going on here? The dude is ice when it’s from the rafters, but inside 40 and we’re all clutching our rosaries.
   I love Butker as much as the next guy but this is seriously weird and just hope it doesn’t come back to cost us at some point.
3. Christian McCaffrey totally obliterated my prediction post the other day. I blame AA writer Lucas Strozinsky for leading me astray on this one. I thought maybe McCaffrey would suit up for the game but not do much. Instead, he had a respectable 38 yards for almost 5 yards per carry. The dude has been with the 49ers for less than 72 hours. Come on, Chiefs.

What did you love and hate about this week’s game? Go ahead and write me at @thegregmorse on Twitter and let me know!