Although they have been able to advance all the way to the Super Bowl with wins over the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions, Fred Warner and the San Francisco 49ers' vaunted defensive unit have not exactly lived up to their reputation so far during the 2024 NFL postseason. Warner himself has made several highlight plays during the 49ers' first two playoff wins; however, the unit as a whole struggled mightily for the majority of the game against the Lions before finally tightening up down the stretch.

Up next for the 49ers is a team they cannot afford to have any defensive slippage against: the Kansas City Chiefs, led by arguably the greatest player to ever pick up a football in Patrick Mahomes. Now, Warner is getting one hundred percent honest on what has to change in order for San Francisco to bring home the Lombardi Trophy.

“We rely on winning games on defense,” said Warner, per Matt Barrows of The Athletic. “Holding teams to minimal points, suffocating teams, dictating how the game’s going. And that hasn’t been the case the last two games.”

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Particularly in the first half against the Lions, the San Francisco defense looked like a complete shell of the unit that had terrorized opposing offenses for the majority of the 2023-24 campaign. However, Warner and his costars such as Nick Bosa were able to pull things together just in time and shut down that potent Detroit offense down the stretch en route to the victory.

The Super Bowl is set to take place on February 11.