It’s 14 days until 49ers training camp begins! We want to look at each opponent and provide a reason for and against the 49ers beating them. We’ve included a poll for the community to vote on whether they expect a win or a loss. We’ll see what kind of prediction this provides at the end.
Week 1 @ Minnesota Vikings
Week 2 @ Detroit Lions
So now Week 3. The 49ers will go to a very important test against the Kansas City Chiefs. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes has taken the reigns of the starting quarterback position from Alex Smith who was jettisoned to Washington.
Reason For: Patrick Mahomes
Going into his fourth start (remember he started a game in 2017), Mahomes will just be coming out of his rawness and teams will be getting film on him. At this point, the 49ers may have found enough of a sample size and can turn the tides quickly on the young quarterback. All it takes is a few games and we really see what kind of quarterback the Chiefs have. Sometimes it takes two games, some eight, some a whole season, but teams will adjust and make life harder for him. Given his inexperience, the defense may have found a gameplan in his first three starts of 2018 to take a bit of the wind out of his sails. The 49ers defense isn’t near as inept as it was years ago, this is right around the time Mahomes gets a rude awakening and a bad game courtesy of the 49ers secondary.
Reason Against: Patrick Mahomes
Then again, Mahomes has shown he can run, sling it, and has a very nice compliment of wide receivers starting with Tyreek Hill and Sammy Watkins. Don’t forget Travis Kelce either. Four games is a good sweet spot for regression to happen, but it also may take a bit longer for him to hit those growing pains stages. If the Chiefs O-line can stave off the 49ers pass rush (very capable of doing) and the 49ers secondary isn’t as improved as we have hoped, Mahomes won’t have much to worry about and can sling it around the field. Given the wide receiver talent, we’ll get a good idea of how improved the 49ers secondary is.
All that said, maybe in four games the 49ers don’t have the film they need, which means Mahomes can keep doing what he’s doing and the 49ers will need to adjust their own defense and try to follow the ball rather than make assumptions. Since they can’t game-plan for Mahomes, that could give him a huge advantage.
If you can’t see the poll, click here.