Chiefs vs 49ers: Who comes out on top in Super Bowl 58 tale of the tape?
By Tyler Brown
Defensive Line
If you look at the names on the 49ers defensive line, you would immediately give them the nod over the Chiefs. Edge defenders Chase Young and Nick Bosa and interior linemen Arik Armstead, Javon Hargrave and Javon Kinlaw are well-established NFL contributors. Bosa is the one that sticks out the most coming off his third straight season with double-digit sacks—even he though came down from 18.5 sacks in 2022 to 10.5 in 2023.
As good as this group is, they are ninth in sacks in the NFL with 48, which is behind the Chiefs who finished second with 57 sacks. There is an element to the 49ers' defensive line where they are not exactly living up to what was projected on paper with all their big-name players.
Bosa leads the team in sacks and Hargrave is the only other guy with more than five. Young has only tallied 2.5 in nine games played with the team.
The Chiefs on the other hand have four defensive linemen with more than five sacks. Chris Jones and George Karlaftis both have 10.5, Charles Omenihu has seven and Mike Danna set a career high with 6.5. The glaring issue here is that Omenihu tore his ACL in the AFC Championship game so they will be down a man. After those three remaining guys, it falls off quite a bit for the Chiefs. Even first-round rookie Feliz Anudike-Uzomah, who has been inactive throughout the playoffs, is expected to get some run this week.
Again, Bosa is the certified superstar out of this whole group, but Jones is not too far behind him. He is just as capable of wrecking a game and Purdy’s timing with his versatility as he can line up in the interior or the edge. If it was not for the Omenihu injury, I would give the advantage to the Chiefs, but the 49ers have the deeper unit.