49ers vs. Chiefs: 5 matchups San Francisco must win in Week 7

49ers vs. Chiefs matchup No. 1: Jimmy Garoppolo and the turnover battle

As noted earlier, the Chiefs own the league’s No. 1 scoring offense and also sit atop the NFL leaderboard with an average of 2.81 points per drive.

Granted, the Niners defense caved a bit during its banged-up efforts against the Falcons a week ago, but this is still a top-five unit without question. And if players like Nick Bosa return, slowing down Patrick Mahomes and Co. will get a little easier.

However, San Francisco can’t afford to give Kansas City any additional possessions.

That means the onus is on Jimmy Garoppolo to keep his somewhat surprising trend of limiting interceptions and turnovers.

Sure, Garoppolo tossed two interceptions in Week 6, although one was effectively a Hail Mary pass at the end of the second quarter that didn’t cause any harm. He was relatively mistake-free the previous two games and did about as much game management as possible without being too big a liability.

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Garoppolo doesn’t have to match Mahomes drive for drive, and in fact, the 49ers would be in trouble if Sunday’s contest comes down to that kind of shootout.

Instead, Garoppolo merely needs to be efficient and careful to help the Niners avoid turning the ball over and allowing Mahomes more field time.

These two teams square off on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 4:25 p.m. ET from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.