SANTA CLARA -- The 49ers never faced a coach-quarterback tandem with this kind of combined previous Super Bowl success in the franchise's first seven trips to the league championship game.
Sure, the 49ers went up against the Kansas City Chiefs just four years ago. Again, they will face coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Back then, Reid had not won a Super Bowl in 20 seasons as an NFL head coach. And Mahomes was a great young player appearing in his first Super Bowl. His name had not yet been placed in the same sentence as Joe Montana and Tom Brady.
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"I think it's not a coincidence why they have [won multiple Super Bowls]," 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said on Thursday.
Kansas City broke through with 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter for a 31-20 victory over the 49ers in Super Bowl LIV in Miami. And the Reid-Mahomes train started rolling.
Kansas City made it through a loaded AFC three more times. The Chiefs lost to Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV but bounced back with a victory over the Philadelphia Eagles a year ago in Super Bowl LVII.
And now, it's a return matchup against the 49ers, with the two teams squaring off in Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday, Feb. 11, in Las Vegas.
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The Chiefs advanced to the organization's fourth Super Bowl in five years with a 17-10 victory Sunday over the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship game.
At 28, Mahomes has already started 17 playoff games, and Kansas City has a 14-3 record in his postseason starts.
"I think the quarterback is as hard to beat as anyone who's ever played the game, the things he can do from a talent standpoint," Shanahan said. "And then you pair that up with his scheme with Andy, how Andy runs a team, with Mahomes' experience now. That's why no matter what type of game it is, whether it's low-scoring, high-scoring, whether they're struggling or not, they always have a chance."
Before the Chiefs beat the Ravens last week, they overcame a seven-point halftime deficit for a 27-24 road victory over the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round of the playoffs.
Kansas City is now playing its best football of the season after a 3-5 stretch that included a 20-14 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Christmas Day.
"If they can keep it close, he's really tough to stop," Shanahan said of Mahomes. "When you can always have a chance, and you also got a really good defense, great coaching staff and a great head coach, that's usually a very good formula to win most games."
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