49Ers' wall is chief concern

MIAMI • Coach Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs can still taste the disappointment of their American conference final loss to eventual Super Bowl champions New England Patriots last January.

That agonising 37-31 overtime setback is driving the National Football League team ahead of tomorrow's Super Bowl LIV against the San Francisco 49ers in Miami.

Dee Ford, a defensive end who has since been traded to the 49ers, was called offside on what would have been a game-clinching interception.

But the Chiefs are not planning to blow it this time - on the biggest stage of them all.

"We came up short last year," Reid said ahead of the team's first appearance in the showpiece final in 50 years. "It kind of fell on Dee. It wasn't on Dee.

"It fell on all of us. We were four inches short. We could have all done a better job. I talked to the team before we went into the off season. The guys went out and attacked the off season.

"They had a taste of getting to the championship game and losing it. But there was something they could do about it.

"The guys have done that."

They have gone one further this season off the back of another outstanding campaign by their star quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

The Most Valuable Player, who at 24 is the youngest to earn American football's highest honours, is in contention to land his second straight individual award, along with the Baltimore Ravens' Lamar Jackson.

And a maiden Super Bowl MVP will beckon should he carry over his post-season form to the Hard Rock Stadium.

In his four career play-off games, dating back to last season, he has led the team to more than 30 points in all of them.

Mahomes is also the only player with more than 10 touchdown passes and zero interceptions in the postseason, while his play-off passer rating of 115.0 is the highest in modern history by a margin of more than 12 points.

He could also be only the third quarterback of African-American descent to lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy, following in the footsteps of the Washington Redskins' Doug Williams in 1988 and the Seattle Seahawks' Russell Wilson in 2014.

"The best thing about it is you're showing kids no matter where you grow up, what race you are, that you can achieve your dream," he said. "Put the work ethic in and you can be there at the end of the day."

Ford and the rest of the 49ers' much-vaunted defence are planning to dash his hopes of glory. Chief fans were glad to see the back of the 28-year-old, with some even accusing him of "throwing" that Patriots game.

But since he left for San Francisco, he has been part of a a mean rearguard that has allowed the fewest completions exceeding 20 yards this regular season (10).

With a defensive line comprising Arik Armstead (10 sacks), Rookie of the Year Nick Bosa (nine), DeForest Buckner (7.5) and Ford (6.5) coming down hard on quarterbacks, the 49ers have been able to cut off the opposition supply line.

In Mahomes, though, the top seeds face their toughest test, but Buckner feels he "can be rattled".

"I don't think they've faced a defence like ours. So we just gotta play our game come Sunday," he told the New York Post.

"That's what they pay us to do. We feel like we have the guys in the room that we can keep him bottled in, pressure him and make him make bad decisions."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS