San Francisco 49ers' Superior Rushing Offense Helps Lead Team to Victory

By Chris Langton
Frank Gore San Francisco 49ers
Getty Images

The San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs played a well-matched game on Sunday afternoon, which ended in a 49ers’ victory. The first half was quite close, with both teams evenly matched. Even at the end of the game, the yardages achieved were not that different, but there were some costly mistakes made on Kansas City’s side and the 49ers simply had a stronger rushing attack on Sunday.

In terms of passing, the greatest difference between Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick was the interception that Smith threw late in the game to seal the win for the 49ers. Kaepernick had a pass completion percentage of 53 percent, while Smith threw for a 55 percent accuracy rating on the day. Both quarterbacks also hit eight different receivers with passes throughout the game. Kaepernick threw for 201 yards, and Smith threw for 175 yards, which is a minimal difference overall.

On defense, the Chiefs outplayed the 49ers in terms of pressure on the passer, as they sacked Kaepernick three times, compared to zero sacks for their opponents. As previously noted, the 49ers had the only interception in the game this afternoon.

The only major difference between these two teams was their rushing offense. The Chiefs ran for a total of 94 yards, with 80 of those coming from Jamaal Charles‘ 15 attempts. He had a good day today, but it was not enough for his team to come away with a win. The 49ers were simply able to open up much better holes for their runners, who gradually wore down the Chiefs’ defense. While the defense played a solid game, there were at least two opportunities for their defensive backs to make interceptions, which simply fell for incompletions.

Frank Gore has been a cornerstone for this offense for almost a decade. At age 31 he does not seem to be slowing down. He rushed for 107 yards on 18 attempts, while rookie Carlos Hyde added 43 yards on 10 runs. Kaepernick added 18 yards on 10 scrambles. The versatility of their quarterback adds a great amount of flexibility for the offense, which helped in their victory tonight.

Finally, there were some nasty miscues on the Chiefs’ part. Late in the game, they took a “too many men” penalty during what would have been a long field goal — which if missed, could have put them in great field position. Similarly, they failed to stop a direct snap fake punt, which would have been a major turning point in the game. It was a brilliantly executed play, snapping the ball to safety Craig Dahl, but making the stop almost certainly would have brought the momentum directly into the Chiefs’ domain.

In basic terms, the 49ers won a great game on Sunday afternoon. They played a disciplined match, and used their versatile offensive potential to its maximum, while capitalizing on some sluggish special teams play by the Chiefs.

Chris Langton is an NFL writer for www.RantSports.com. He also contributes to the MMA page. Follow him on Twitter @Langtron57, “Like” him on Facebook, and add him to your network on Google.

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