In each of their last three Super Bowl victories, the Kansas City Chiefs have had to overcome double-digit deficits to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Kansas City needed overtime this time, but a 22-12 run after halftime beat Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime.
In the biggest game of his career, the former Mr. Irrelevant completed 23 of 38 passes for 255 yards and a touchdown. Although he didn’t exactly defend the Super Bowl MVP, the Chiefs defense was impressed with what Purdy brought against them – especially when it came to cutting down their zone coverage. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and his staff were reportedly “blown away” by Purdy’s performance against their zone and by a Chiefs coach. told SI.com that Purdy has some Drew Brees qualities.
Spagnuolo was forced to change his game plan during Super Bowl LVIII, switching from primarily zone coverage to man coverage.
“Zones, I just think their wideouts and their quarterback are so good at their timing routes, and Brock Purdy is Really well,” Spagnuolo said, via SI.com. “He knew when we were in certain things, and he found seams.”
This is interesting, because it doesn’t indicate how the regular season went for the 49ers quarterback. Purdy had the most yards per attempt against a man (10.2) in the NFL this season, while throwing 13 touchdowns against one interception. However, on Sunday, Spags’ change worked. Excluding throwables, Purdy had a rating of 8 out of 20 when targeting his best weapons, Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle, while he had a rating of 15 out of 16 when targeting all the world. Kansas City trusted its star cornerbacks, and they succeeded.
