Groundhog Day in Super Bowl History: 49ers, Chiefs Have Been Here Before

It may feel like Groundhog Day, but the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers are indeed headed to the Super Bowl, just as they did four years ago. Kansas City entered the playoffs as the No. 3 seed but were still favorites according to many given that they'd reached the AFC Championship game for five consecutive seasons, winning a pair of Super Bowls. Meanwhile, San Francisco was the top seed in the NFC, and they've continued to perform like it in the postseason.

Both the 49ers and Chiefs have realistic chances of winning on Super Bowl Sunday. It's difficult to claim that either team has a drastic advantage. Sure, the 49ers are probably the more all-around talented team given their mixture of stars on both offense and defense. With that being said, the Chiefs' defense has performed at a respectable level in 2023, and Patrick Mahomes is more than capable of leading the offense to a big game. 

The 49ers and Chiefs are no strangers to the Super Bowl as franchises, either, having been on this stage a combined 12 times prior to this year, including their matchup in Super Bowl LIV. This article will cover that contest and the rest of these teams' histories in the big game.

49ers' Super Bowl History

The 49ers have appeared in seven Super Bowls. They started out strong, winning their first five appearances. They featured Joe Montana, arguably the greatest quarterback of the pre-Tom Brady era, for their first four wins, then added another with Steve Young. However, they have struggled in their last two Super Bowl appearances and haven't won a Lombardi Trophy since 1995. 

Former 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh was defeated by his brother John Harbaugh against the Baltimore Ravens in 2013, losing by a 34-31 score. San Francisco then played Kansas City in 2020 and was defeated 31-20. That game can tell us something about this year's Super Bowl, as it came against the same Patrick Mahomes- and Travis Kelce-led the Chiefs.

San Francisco went 13-3 in 2019 and entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed. The 49ers featured a strong offense, but they relied on their rushing attack. The 2019-20 49ers recorded the most rushing touchdowns and second-most rushing yards in the NFL. 

Raheem Mostert, Matt Breida and Tevin Coleman all played big roles in San Francisco's rushing attack. Meanwhile, QB Jimmy Garoppolo performed well enough on offense to help keep the 49ers in games, but he wasn't exactly considered a superstar.

The 49ers' defense was also reliable. They finished the season ranked fourth for the fewest points allowed. They surrendered the second-fewest amount of yards per game as well. 

In 2023-24, the 49ers feature a similar team. Christian McCaffrey leads a quality rushing attack, while Brock Purdy, like Garoppolo, might not have star pedigree but has emerged as an MVP candidate for San Francisco. But even with no shortage of offensive weapons, the defense is still arguably the 49ers' greatest strength. 

The 49ers are going to be the favorite in the game, but any team facing this current Chiefs squad cannot take anything for granted. Nevertheless, the 49ers should have a better chance of emerging victorious with a better quarterback under center, with Purdy representing a clear improvement over Garoppolo.

Chiefs Super Bowl History

The Chiefs have reached five Super Bowls, split between two distinct eras. They failed to reach the big game between 1970 and 2020, but they're about to play in their fourth Super Bowl in the last five years. The entire franchise has found more success in the past five years than it did for most of its existence, and Patrick Mahomes deserves a lot of credit. 

Of course, Mahomes has had help. He's played with stars like Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce. One could make the argument that this year's Super Bowl appearance is Mahomes' most impressive, however.

Kansas City's offense has been loaded with talent in previous seasons. In 2023-24, the offense dealt with no shortage of uncertainty. Receivers were dropping passes on a consistent basis and Travis Kelce dealt with injury trouble. 

Yet the Chiefs still took care of business in the postseason despite sneaking in as a Wild Card team. Mahomes stepped up and played his best football in the big moments. He had a down regular season in 2023 to an extent, but a down season by his standards is still a solid year overall. Now, Mahomes and the Chiefs are looking to win their third Super Bowl in five years. 

So what can we learn from previous Chiefs teams? 

Well, for starters, the offense is not quite as reliable. They don't have Tyreek Hill to pick up the slack. Kadarius Toney's status is in question as well. As long as Mahomes and Kelce are on the field together, though, it's pretty easy to remain confident in the passing attack. 

Running back Isiah Pacheco (toe) is questionable for the Super Bowl. He's probably going to play unless the team decides there's simply no manner in which he can battle through his injury. Given that he's already returned to practice as a limited participant, that seems unlikely.

The Chiefs' defense is what is going to be the difference-maker. Somewhat quietly, Kansas City's defense enjoyed a strong season in 2023. Some of their previous Super Bowl teams didn't feature reliable defenses, so that is a stark difference. 

Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has led this defensive attack. Chiefs star defender Chris Jones had nothing but compliments for Spagnuolo during a recent interview, per Nancy Armour of USA Today. 

"I still think 'Spags' should be up for assistant coach of the year," Jones said of Spagnuolo. "What he's been able to do with this defense from last year to this year, how we were able to overcome a lot of humps, how we were able to force a lot of guys to grow. Last year, we gave up a lot of big plays. This year, L'Jarius Sneed had an All-Pro year, should have been All-Pro. (Trent McDuffie) had an All-Pro year. You could go down the list."

The Chiefs' offense is going to give them a chance to win, but the defense may ultimately determine the result on Super Bowl Sunday.