Chants for 49ers’ Brock Purdy chants and 6 things we learned at Super Bowl’s Opening Night
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LAS VEGAS — “Pur-dy! Pur-dy! Pur-dy!”
If Opening Night is any indication, San Francisco 49ers fans will be very well-represented at this year’s Super Bowl.
The Niners backers who filled the lower bowl of Allegiant Stadium booed loudly when quarterback Patrick Mahomes and other Kansas City Chiefs players were interviewed on stage on Monday, even causing tight end Travis Kelce to stop and react to the catcalls.
Alternately, they chanted loudly for Brock Purdy and his teammates, including Christian McCaffrey, who got a loud chant of, “MVP! MVP! MVP!”
Here are some other sights and sounds from the big kick-off event on Monday.
Spagnuolo sought clues about Purdy via broadcast tape
Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said he likes to watch the broadcast version of a game because it offers close-up shots of players’ faces — their reaction to plays — that he can’t see on the coach’s film.
He said he was curious about Purdy, who will be the third-youngest quarterback to start a Super Bowl, and thought the 49ers’ passer might show his age at times. He didn’t.
“He never looked rattled,” Spagnuolo said. “He always looked really poised. I think he’s been impressive.”
Spagnuolo was asked about several 49ers’ offensive players during a media scrum Monday but kept coming back to the Purdy.
“I was expecting to put on the film and see somebody that’s a backup quarterback, that had a weakness somewhere,” he said. “But the timing of his throws, the anticipation of his throws is really impressive to me. And the fact that he can scramble like a really good athlete — that was really impressive, too. I didn’t know that about him.”
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The key man in 49ers’ fight against Chris Jones
Starting 49ers right guard Jon Feliciano offered his scouting report of the Chiefs defense.
“Their linebackers are really good,” Feliciano said. “Chris Jones and their back end is really good.”
Notice that Feliciano didn’t mention the Kansas City defensive line outside of Jones, who was among the NFL’s most productive interior pass rushers with 10 1/2 sacks and 85 pressures this season, per Pro Football Focus. Perhaps that’s because the 49ers see holes to exploit along the rest of the front. The Chiefs rank No. 27 in run defense DVOA and their exterior rush took a major hit when defensive end Charles Omenihu — who’d previously played for the 49ers — tore his ACL in the AFC Championship Game.
“Punch him in the chest and fight the bull rush,” Feliciano said of the 49ers’ strategy against Jones, who lines up primarily against right guard. “He’s a really good player. Even when you think you have him, he’s going to put up his arms and bat down the ball. I think we have a big challenge ahead of us.”
The best way to tackle that challenge might be to run directly at Jones so that he can’t showcase his elite pass-rushing abilities. He hasn’t graded particularly well against the run.
“If you don’t neutralize Chris, the rest of their D-line is going to eat up blocks and let their linebackers make big plays,” Feliciano said. “In the pass game, their secondary is really good.”
Dashon Goldson interested in a full-time gig
Assistant defensive backs coach Dashon Goldson has been sharing Super Bowl stories with his pupils recently — including the one about the 34-minute power outage in New Orleans when his 49ers team was facing the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII.
“I was talking to the guys and saying, ‘We had to warm up like three different times just to stay loose,’” Goldson said.
That’s been his theme whenever he talks to players: It’s critical to maintain focus through all the Super Bowl distractions.
“This game on Sunday — there are things around it that are going to make it seem bigger than what it is, but it’s still a football game, it’s still a three-hour game, it’s still the same rules,” he said. “Because a lot of guys come into this atmosphere and they try to make plays. And they have to remember that they just need to do their jobs and it will happen naturally.”
Just before training camp in July, Goldson, 39, was announced as one of the team’s coaching fellows for the 2023 season, and the former 49ers’ safety (2007-12) spent the year helping out the defensive backs. He said he wasn’t sure how he’d like coaching and whether young players would be receptive to someone who played nearly a decade ago.
But he said he enjoyed the experience so much that he’s hoping for a more permanent role.
“I definitely can see myself doing this long term,” he said. “That’s one of the things I want to talk to the coach about and the organization about — about keeping me on.”
Aiyuk had his ladybug moment during pregame warmups
There seem to be five silly questions for every serious one asked on Opening Night, and Brandon Aiyuk said the one he got over and over on Monday was, “What is your favorite flavor of Gatorade?”
The 49ers’ receiver cut those off quickly.
“Gatorade doesn’t sponsor me, so I don’t have a favorite flavor,” he said flatly.
Aiyuk also got a ladybug question, which of course stemmed from his interview immediately following the 49ers’ conference championship win in which he told Fox reporter Erin Andrews that a ladybug landed on his cleat and that it foreshadowed his tumbling, game-changing 51-yard catch in the third quarter.
On Monday, he said his girlfriend is the one who told him that ladybugs bring luck and that she always seems to see a ladybug when she’s with Aiyuk’s sister, Maya.
So when one landed on his shoe during pre-game warm-ups, Aiyuk became excited and told one of the assistant coaches what it meant. He said the coach seemed skeptical, but that everyone was a believer after the catch.
“The rest is history,” he said.
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Why Omenihu wishes he could play against his former team
Speaking of Omenihu, his torn ACL will translate to a heavier burden on George Karlaftis and Mike Danna, Kansas City’s two best available defensive ends.
Omenihu, whom the 49ers had acquired in a 2021 trade with the Houston Texans, signed with the Chiefs for two years and up to $16 million before this season. He delivered a career year in 2023, racking up seven sacks over just 11 games. But the injury cut the season short just before Omenihu had a chance to square off against his former team.
“I wish I was playing,” he said. “I wanted to show them exactly what they helped create and what they lost.”
Omenihu did shower praise on the 49ers, complimenting the organization and specifically defensive line coach Kris Kocurek. This is notable because Omenihu had not spoken well of the Texans when he was with the 49ers.
“It’s not a circus show here,” Omenihu said in 2022 a few months after he joined the 49ers.
The Chiefs have two other players who also previously played for the 49ers: receiver Richie James and running back Jerick McKinnon.
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A former Chief was key in this 49ers’ journey
Receiver Chris Conley, who delivered a critical catch during the 49ers’ game-winning postseason drive against the Green Bay Packers, began his career with the Chiefs. They picked him in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft. Conley played four seasons for Kansas City and said he’s still friends with Mahomes and Kelce, his former teammates.
Can a player’s connection to a former team affect the game at hand?
“I think that it can,” Conley said. “My job is to do my best not to let it.”
The 31-year-old receiver has played primarily special teams this season for the 49ers, but Conley has been unfazed when the team has called on him to deliver in big moments on offense. The biggest came after starting receiver Deebo Samuel exited that Packers game with an injury and Purdy rifled a deep out to Conley in the fourth quarter.
“Brock is pretty good at ripping them,” Conley said. “You have to have a lot of trust. Because if you don’t trust somebody when you’re throwing that ball, it can hang and it’s easy to pick something that’s wide and outside.”
The 49ers might be brimming with star power, but it seems fitting that talent at the margins — such as Conley — has been a winning difference for them on the way to this Super Bowl.
“There’s a lot of depth of talent, but also on top of that, there’s a lot of depth of character,” Conley said. “Because there’s a lot of guys on this team who don’t play, who don’t get those opportunities, and they’re good players. And they’ve played for other teams and they’ve made plays. T.Y. McGill, Alex Barrett, Willie Snead. These are guys who have made plays in the league before, but they’ll wait for their turn to help this team.”
(Top photo of Brock Purdy and Patrick Mahomes: Chris Unger / Getty Images)