2. Make Brock Purdy Beat You
The first thing to get out of the way here is that Brock Purdy is more than a game manager. He has proven that by tossing for more yards per attempt when throwing for more than 400 attempts per season. To put that into perspective, the 49ers are dead last in passing attempts but are fourth in passing yards. He also creates and does not just dink and dunk his way down the field. Legendary former Chiefs and 49ers game manager, Alex Smith said himself that Purdy is way more than that.
With that being said, if the 49ers can run a game script where they get a lead and have running back Christian McCaffrey tally 25-30 touches, they will have a good opportunity to beat the Chiefs. With Mahomes' comeback ability that he is proven over and over again, anything is possible but McCaffrey finding success will keep the ball out of Mahomes' hands.
If the Chiefs' defense has one mild kryptonite, it is that they are 18th in the league in rushing yards allowed per game. If McCaffrey ends up averaging over five yards per carry and the 49ers commit to it, like they like to do, it will be a low-scoring game where anything can happen at that point.
If the Chiefs can get an early lead, it will force Purdy to beat them. As I said, Purdy is a good quarterback who finished fourth in MVP voting, but he is a second-year player going up against a January Steve Spanuolo defense. The 49ers do have two prolific receivers in Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel but the Chiefs have arguably the best secondary in the league.
Kansas City is fourth in the NFL, averaging only 176 passing yards allowed per game. Purdy is averaging 267 yards per game, so something has to give if they force him to pass the ball. The Chiefs captured a lead against Baltimore and it ended up forcing the Ravens to run the ball just six times with their running backs. If the Chiefs can do something similar here, their chances of winning go up drastically.