When the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers meet in Miami for Super Bowl LIV this Sunday, football fans get to see a matchup made for football’s biggest stage.
Put simply, we get to see the league’s most dynamic offence in Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs go head-to-head with this year’s most dominant defence that’s led by a fearsome front four and a strong San Francisco secondary.
This is the first time the Chiefs and 49ers are meeting in the Super Bowl — and it’s shaping up to be quite the showdown.
When you look at their overall numbers this season, the two clubs have posted pretty similar results.
We’ve collected a bunch of numbers to help put Sunday’s must-see matchup into perspective:
.794: The combined career winning percentage of Patrick Mahomes and Jimmy Garoppolo. It’s the highest combined win percentage ever by opposing Super Bowl quarterbacks.
Winning is habit pic.twitter.com/MoG8vglhGI
— SNF on NBC (@SNFonNBC) January 27, 2020
2: Number of times the Chiefs have trailed by more than 10 points in the first half this post-season, only to take over the lead later in that first half. Mahomes & Co. made a stunning first-half comeback against Houston in the divisional matchup that saw them overcome a 24-0 deficit, then trailed by 10 points before getting on the scoreboard against Tennessee a week later.
2: Number of Super Bowl rings owned by Garoppolo from his time in New England as Tom Brady’s backup.
4-12: The 49ers’ record just one year ago, ranking them third in the NFC West. They’re now the third team in league history to go all the way to the Super Bowl after winning four or fewer games one season prior.
6: Number of Super Bowl appearances for the 49ers. They won their first five (1981, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1994) but lost to the Baltimore Ravens in 2012.
6: Six is also the record for most Super Bowls won by a franchise — a piece of history shared by the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers. If San Francisco can defeat Kansas City, they’ll join the Patriots and Steelers.
8: Number of pass attempts made by Jimmy Garoppolo in the 49ers’ win over the Green Bay Packers to advance to the Super Bowl. (He completed six of them for 77 yards.)
8: Number of touchdown passes made by Patrick Mahomes this post-season — a stat that pairs especially nicely with his zero interceptions thrown.
9: Number of Super Bowls not featuring the New England Patriots since 2001, when the franchise’s historic two decades of dominance began. The last time we had a non-Patriots Super Bowl was the 2015 season.
10: Sacks on the season by 49ers sack leader Arik Armstead — one more than rookie phenom and teammate Nick Bosa. Between Armstead, Bosa, DeForest Buckner and Dee Ford, San Francisco boasts one of the most dangerous and dynamic pass rushes in the NFL.
15: Years since Andy Reid’s first Super Bowl appearance (2004 with the Eagles, a 24-21 loss). He’ll be the 24th NFL head coach in league history to appear in more than one Super Bowl.
16: When Chiefs guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif steps onto the field this Sunday, he’ll be the 16th Canadian to compete in a Super Bowl.
26-5: Patrick Mahomes’ touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio through his 14-game regular season. Garoppolo’s comes in a 27-13, through a full 16.
50: Years since the Chiefs’ first and only Super Bowl victory in January 1970. That’s the second-longest drought among teams that have previously hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy, behind the New York Jets’ 51-year (and counting) drought.
53: Number of rushing yards run by Mahomes in each of his playoff games this year to get to the Super Bowl. He also put up identical throwing stats in back-to-back weeks against the Texans and Titans: 23 completions on 35 pass attempts for a 65.71 completion percentage. Mahomes’ 27-yard rushing TD against Tennessee was the longest in history by a QB in a conference championship game.
69: The Chiefs’ ability to limit Titans running back Derrick Henry to just 69 yards in the AFC title game was key in their victory. Should they find a way to shut down the 49ers’ run game the same way, San Francisco could be in trouble.
220: Number of rushing yards posted by running back Raheem Mostert in San Francisco’s conference championship win over the Packers, which is the biggest single-game total in franchise history. (Here’s a crazy stat: prior to the start of the 2019 season, Mostert had tallied a total of 291 career rushing yards split between six different teams through two seasons.)
His four touchdowns (three of which came in the first half) were the most scored by a single player in one game against Green Bay.
281.8: Yards per game allowed by the dominant 49ers defence, the second-fewest league-wide behind the Patriots. They’ve allowed an average of 19.4 points per game over the course of the 2019 regular season and just 15 through the post-season, with defensive coordinator Robert Saleh’s crew especially dominant against the pass — they’ve held opposing clubs to just 169.2 passing yards per game through the regular season, which is best in the league.
287.9: Passing yards per game averaged by Patrick Mahomes, ranking him seventh league-wide this season.
572: Number of passing yards posted by Patrick Mahomes since that disastrous first quarter against the Texans in the divisional round.
1,229: Total receiving yards (regular season) for Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce this season, tops among tight ends and fourth league-wide. His 49ers counterpart, George Kittle, was third among tight ends (1,053 yards, behind Oakland’s Darren Waller) this year after leading the league in 2018.
2,305: Total rushing yards for the 49ers this season, good for second in the league behind Baltimore. San Francisco closed out 2019 with a league-high 23 rushing touchdowns thanks to their potent one-two punch of Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman.
9,031: Wanna go to the game? It’ll cost you — big time. According to Seat Geek’s Ticket Tracker, the average ticket price available today is $9,031. The cheapest ticket on the secondary market is currently $5,844, while the priciest is listed at a whopping $46,302.
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