San Francisco 49ers -2 (-110)

All year the 49ers have been the best team in the NFL. While most people will point to them getting routed by the Ravens and say Baltimore is the best team, I disagree. That was one game. Brock Purdy had an early turnover and things just snowballed. It’s important to remember that the Niners still managed to accumulate 429 yards in that game against the Ravens defense. The Niners have consistently been the best team in the league for the duration of the season and I do not think their last two games should be weighted more heavily. While it seems that they struggled to beat the Packers and had to mount a massive comeback against the Lions, these are the growing pains teams need to go through to ascend to greatness. There is no success without struggle. On the flipside, the world seems to be weighting the last 3 games for the Chiefs much more than their entire season. This is a team that is good defensively but has issues stopping the run. The Niners have the best run scheming coach in the league and arguably the best running back. All season the Chiefs have been Mahomes and a prayer and that hasn’t changed in the playoffs. While they are running Pacheco more (and he will be a factor in this game because SF’s run defense is their weakness), the WRs are still bad. Outside of Rashee Rice and Kelce there is no one that Mahomes trusts. While KC beat the Ravens, I can make a case that they were held scoreless in the second half, the Zay Flowers fumble makes it a different game and Baltimore panicked and immediately abandoned the run. KC also beat the Bills but that one was close and could have went Buffalo’s way. They beat the Dolphins in what was one of the coldest games in NFL history, with Miami down 3/4 of their defense. Bringing it all back: San Fran is the most talented team the Chiefs have played all year. I’m hearing a lot of “it’s Mahomes as an underdog!” and I get the sentiment, however, the whole season tells me otherwise. I expect the Niners to keep it on the ground in the beginning and to minimize Purdy’s mistakes. While Mahomes is the best QB in the world, I also expect the Chiefs to run a lot of Pacheco. I’m looking towards the under and a Niners victory. Shanahan will finally break through and Mahomes won’t be enough.