Niner Noise
FanSided

49ers must learn these crucial lessons from Super Bowl-winning Chiefs

By Peter Panacy

Retired football player Terry Bradshaw (L) and Chief's owner Clark Hunt watch Kansas City Chiefs' quarterback Patrick Mahomes as he celebrates his team's winning Super Bowl LVII (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Retired football player Terry Bradshaw (L) and Chief's owner Clark Hunt watch Kansas City Chiefs' quarterback Patrick Mahomes as he celebrates his team's winning Super Bowl LVII (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images) /
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The 49ers have gotten close to winning a Super Bowl three times in the last four years, but the Chiefs can actually teach the Niners some valuable lessons.

The San Francisco 49ers are an awfully good team. They’re going to be in the discussion as a Super Bowl contender after falling short of ultimately winning it in three of the last four years, including the most recent exit in the NFC Championship game to the ultimate loser of Super Bowl LVII, the Philadelphia Eagles.

Niners fans probably feel good about Philly suffering a defeat on such a national stage, but with it coming at the hands of the team that last knocked San Francisco out in the Super Bowl, the Kansas City Chiefs, whatever joys are probably short-lived.

It doesn’t mean the 49ers should avoid learning the lessons KC is able to teach, though.

Sure, Kansas City should have taught the Niners some lessons back in February of 2020 in Super Bowl LIV, but with quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Co. looking to shape up what’ll likely be the NFL’s next dynasty (if it isn’t one already), San Francisco needs to take note.

No. 1 Chiefs lesson to 49ers: Don’t settle on an OK quarterback

In Super Bowl LIV, the 49ers had a good quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo. KC, meanwhile, had a perennial MVP candidate in Mahomes.

Without diving too deep into the memories of which team won that game, at least the Niners have tried upgrading that position, namely in 2021 by aggressively trading up for and then selecting quarterback Trey Lance at No. 3 overall in that year’s NFL Draft.

Whether or not Lance will be the guy, or if it’ll end up being last year’s surprise phenom, Brock Purdy, is to be seen.

However, settling on an “OK” quarterback is never a good idea.

FanSided NFL insider Matt Verderame often preached this on the Stacking the Box Podcast, namely by saying there should be two kinds of teams in the NFL: Those that have an elite quarterback, and those that need to be trying to land one.

Kansas City is in the former category, while the Niners are in the latter (for now).