The San Francisco 49ers are on their way to the Super Bowl in Vegas, and Brock Purdy is a big part of the reason why. Purdy engineered a second half comeback from down 24 to 7 against the Detroit Lions in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday that has fans buzzing nationwide.
The 49ers' star linebacker Fred Warner busted out a new wardrobe choice inspired by a famous rapper that caught many by surprise. Warner's playoff efforts vs. the Detroit Lions set a new NFL record.
Prior to the Lions vs. 49ers matchup this past Sunday, much of the talk centered around how the Lions' Jared Goff led passing attack would fare against a powerful 49ers defense led by Warner and Nick Bosa.
Warner's play proved to be the difference in the game along with his defensive teammates, and it will be needed more than ever against Patrick Mahomes, Rashee Rice and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Fred Warner is the 49ers' X-Factor
Warner is the 49ers' 27-year-old linebacking star from San Marcos, California.
Warner is one of the smartest defensive players in the NFL for his ability to diagnose plays and slice into the backfield to stop them before they get going.
A third-round draft pick out of Brigham Young University in 2018, Warner has improved tremendously during his time in the National Football League for Coach Kyle Shanahan's team. He is fast, powerful and plays with low pad level making him a bane of the opposing team's existence.
With the Lions clinging tightly to a lead in the second of Sunday's game, Warner took it upon himself to shut down Jahmyr Gibbs and Detroit's rushing attack.
Warner had 13 tackles including nine solo tackles vs. Dan Campbell's bunch on Sunday. He also had 1.5 ‘stuffs,' defined as tackles that stopped an opposing player at or behind the line of scrimmage.
Warner's Role Against the Chiefs
Against Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs, Warner will need to do his best to shut down and provide a deterring force over the middle of the field.
This can be accomplished by studying plenty of game film and being as prepared as possible. Coach Andy Reid and the Chiefs do an excellent job of using formations, down and distance to confuse opponents and get players like Isiah Pacheco, Rashee Rice and Kelce free for big chunks of yardage on regular downs and obvious passing downs alike.
Warner makes life difficult in these situations. He's improved tremendously since the 49ers last faced Kansas City in the Super Bowl and he has the speed, play recognition skills and strength to make life difficult on all who dare come across the middle.
Against the Lions, the 49ers gave up a rushing touchdown to young rookie star Jahmyr Gibbs early on in the game. Against the Chiefs, Warner may not face as big of a threat in the rushing game as he will in the passing game.
That will give Warner the ability to get after the quarterback and to play a little more free than he did against Detroit. Warner has a solid and clutch secondary behind him led by heroes of the Detroit game like Arik Armstead, who made a key stop against Amon-Ra St. Brown late.
The 49ers might not shut down the Chiefs' passing attack as that is pretty much impossible to do with Mahomes at the controls of the ship. What they can do is rely on their perseverance and never-say-die attitude to stop big plays from happening and give their offense what it needs to take over as they did vs. the Lions.
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