LAS VEGAS — Kansas City assistant Steve Spagnuolo is among the best NFL defensive minds and can become the first two coordinate four different championship teams with a win over the 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII.
Besides orchestrating the defense for the New York Giants that shut down the 18-0 New England Patriots for the New York Giants following the 2007 season, Spagnuolo has two more with the Chiefs, although Kansas City gave up plenty of points and 417 yards in last year’s 38-35 loss to Philadelphia in Super Bowl LVII.
Many Kansas City defenders were wearing “In Spags We Trust” T-shirts in the aftermath of their AFC title win against Baltimore and they’ve become a hot item with Chiefs fans.
Spagnuolo has faced 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan before, including Chiefs wins in Super Bowl LIV and in Week 7 of the 2022 regular season. They also have coached against each other as assistants with other teams, with Shanahan holding a 5-3 advantage that has no relevance Sunday at Allegiant Stadium.
But Shanahan has something going for him he didn’t have the other two times the 49ers played Spagnuolo’s defense. He has Brock Purdy as his starting quarterback and Christian McCaffrey fully immersed in the system as the NFL’s most explosive and diverse running back.
Purdy had just completed his sophomore season at Iowa State when the Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV 31-20. He saw his first series of NFL action in last season’s 44-23 win by the Chiefs.
McCaffrey had more yards from scrimmage for the Carolina Panthers in 2019 than he did in being this year’s NFL Offensive Player of the Year, rushing for 1,387 yards and 14 touchdowns and catching and catching 116 passes for 1,005 yards and four more scores.
Break it down any way you want, and those two additions are the hub of the 49ers’ offense with Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle and Kyle Juszczyk as the satellites who thrive when defenses look to get after Purdy and neutralize McCaffrey.
“I think to get where we have been and where we’ve gotten you should have some really good players,” Shanahan said. “But having both those guys and what Christian does in both and really what Brock’s done in both has been unbelievable and they’re the biggest parts of our offense.”
The Chiefs’ defense is ranked second in the NFL in total defense and second in points per game, never having given up more than 27 to any opponent. The Chiefs were second in sacks and second in quarterback hits. Some 49ers players have invoked the name Aaron Donald in talking about defensive tackle Chris Jones, who had 10 1/2 sacks, and George Karlaftis (10 1/2) adds an outside threat.
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Quarterback Brock Purdy (13) and running back Christian McCaffrey (23) will give the Chiefs a different look than they saw in the previous two wins against the 49ers.
Kansas City was occasionally susceptible to the run, giving up 4.5 yards per carry. It’s worth noting in the Chiefs’ 17-10 AFC Championship game win over Baltimore, the run-heavy Ravens abandoned the run.
With McCaffrey in the backfield, Shanahan isn’t likely to make that mistake.
“So defensively for us, it’s going to be stopping the run game,” Spagnuolo said. “I have to believe they’re going to come out and try to establish a run game. It does two things, they possess the ball and it keeps Patrick (Mahomes) off the field, so I’m sure that will be primary for them. And if we can find a way to get them to punt it more times than they want to, get it back to our QB, that gives us the best chance to win.”
Spagnuolo spent the week in press settings praising Purdy, which is to be expected.
“I was expecting to turn on the film and see someone that looked like a backup quarterback and had a weakness somewhere,” Spagnuolo said. “But the timing and anticipation of his throws are really impressive. And the fact that he can scramble like a really good athlete — I didn’t know that about him.
“I often try to watch broadcast views and not the coach’s tape. You know how those cameras can get really close? He never gets rattled. He always looks poised.”
McCaffrey had just one walkthrough practice and played 23 snaps in the game at Levi’s Stadium last season.
“Thank God we got him then and not after they’d had him for two or three weeks,” Spagnuolo said. “He’s an explosive, real smart football player.”
Spagnuolo will need to be at his best in deploying corners Trent McDuffie and L’Jarius Snead. McDuffie had an All-Pro season and Spagnuolo is disappointed Snead didn’t join him.
“There are a lot of things we would not be able to do if we didn’t have him,” Spagnuolo said. “When you challenge him and say we need you to take a particular wide receiver out of the game, that’s a good thing. And he’s really good at it. Nobody can do it at the level he does.”
Shananan’s job this week has been drilling Purdy and the offense to create matchups that can either avoid those defenders in the secondary and isolate other defenders against a cache of weapons that is superior to anything the Chiefs saw against the 49ers in previous matchups.
Shanahan’s mission is clear: Get his offense to put up enough points so that Mahomes can’t beat the 49ers at the end or take charge in the second half as they did against Detroit.
Either way, Shanahan is steering clear of talking about the chess match when it comes to outwitting either Andy Reid or Spagnuolo.
“If you try and square up against a creative play-caller you’re going to mess it up for your whole team,” Shanahan said. “It’s about studying what they do and trying to give yourself the best look possible. If you try to be creative just to be creative, it’s going to end up looking pretty dumb.”