It’s the matchup nobody wanted outside of Kansas City and the Bay Area, but it’s what we get. Chiefs/49ers in Las Vegas for all the marbles.
I’ll have a formal preview of the big game closer to next Sunday, but for now, we’ve got to discuss how those teams got there. To a degree, I think they both got bailed out by bad planning and questionable decision-making on the other sideline. Let’s get into it.
Chiefs 17, Ravens 10
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs’ offense came out on fire in the first quarter, scoring touchdowns on their first two drives. I’m still looking back at this throw from Mahomes to Travis Kelce with awe:
Kansas City was getting whatever it wanted early on. Mahomes was 13/15 for 106 yards and a touchdown through those first two drives, and Baltimore had no answer. However, this early stretch illustrated that one team’s game plan was spot on, and another’s was completely off-base.
Mahomes’s longest pass on those first two drives was the nineteen-yarded to Kelce for the touchdown. The Chiefs nickled-and-dimed the Ravens down the field, taking what they were willing to give up. It’s a brilliant gameplan by Andy Reid.
On the other side, Baltimore was frustratingly adamant about attacking the strength of the Chiefs’ defense, which was top-tier against the pass and mediocre against the run. We’ve watched teams run all over the Chiefs all year, and yet, players other than Lamar ran the ball eight times.
EIGHT TIMES. IN THE ENTIRE GAME.
On three carries, Gus Edwards gained 20 yards, rounding to over 6.5 yards per carry. You can dominate games running at that clip. For some wild and unexplainable reason, head coach John Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Todd Monken never gave the run game a chance.
Last week, I praised Monken for making drastic halftime adjustments to attack the weakness of Houston’s defense. As a result, I expected changes to Baltimore’s offensive approach later in the game. It never happened.
Shame on you, Todd Monken. The loss is on you.
Baltimore also went a little overboard with the emotional ammunition in the game. Every Ravens legend was in the building, and it seemed like Baltimore was playing with emotions from the very start. The Ravens never seemed settled, calm, or collected in the game.
I mean, it’s all wrapped up by Arthur Maulet’s performance. The Ravens’ corner went out of his way to jaw with the Chiefs’ secondary before the game:
Maulet then followed it up by getting burnt to a crisp by Marquez Valdes-Scantling to ice the game.
The Ravens had no cool all night. They made a lot of emotionally-charged mistakes.
The biggest of them all was the Zay Flowers minute of hell late in the third. After a long catch, he taunted L’Jarius Sneed to cost his team 15 yards:
A couple plays later, Sneed stripped Flowers as he headed into the end zone, taking six points off the board. It was truly poetic.
The Chiefs simply kept their heads down and made the plays they needed to make; they were clearly the more mature and more playoff-ready team.
And Travis Kelce? Don’t you dare think we didn’t see you talking shit after every play, daring the Ravens to make a mistake. I still have no idea how he went the entire game without game without getting a single personal foul.
Nonetheless, the Ravens played their worst, most immature game of the season, and it cost them dearly. The “Playoff Lamar” narrative will really take off now, I fear.
Lions 31, 49ers 34
I don’t care who you are. You can’t blow a 17-point lead in the playoffs. It’s gotta feel good for Kyle Shanahan to finally be on the right side of an all-time playoff collapse.
Detroit was incredible in the first half, making the 49ers look like a college team. Jameson Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs, and the rest of the Lions’ skill players were running wild, and their defense was flying around making all sorts of plays on San Francisco’s offense.
Detroit out-gained the Niners 280-131 in the first half. It was shockingly dominating.
And then Dan Campbell happened.
Don’t get me wrong, I love being aggressive on fourth down in plus territory. However, you’ve got to be consistent with your play calling and execution, and Campbell wasn’t.
I first flagged this as a warning sign when Campbell abandoned the aggressiveness at the end of the first half. Detroit had the San Francisco defense reeling, and instead of going for another touchdown and really taking the game by the horns, Campbell elected to play to run the clock out and settled for a field goal on a manageable fourth and goal.
I didn’t understand that approach at all. Can’t believe I agree with Skip Bayless on something:
If you’re going to settle for three at that point in the game, there’s no reason to change that around on other fourth downs later in the game. If you’re going to be aggressive, BE AGGRESSIVE!
The execution of those plays also fell short, which falls on the players rather than Campbell himself. Still, I didn’t feel the best decisions were made to put the Lions in the best position to hold onto that lead.
San Francisco was lethal in taking advantage of those mistakes en route to a 27-0 second-half run to take the lead back. Brock Purdy was able to find open receivers consistently, and Christian McCaffrey became unstoppable.
I mean, when Purdy’s interceptions are turning into deflected completions down the field, it’s just not your night if you’re Detroit:
I didn’t love the way Dan Campbell coached. It put their defense, which was already liable to give up points, in really bad situations consistently in the second half. San Francisco took advantage. It’s as simple as that.
I love Dan Campbell. I really do. However, I fear that the same culture and approach he’s spent years cultivating cost him and his team a long-awaited trip to the Super Bowl.
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