SANTA CLARA, Calif. — About 10 minutes before the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers kicked off in California, a football game played 2,000 miles away left the Chiefs as the NFL’s only unbeaten team.

Three hours later, they left California with the same distinction.

The Chiefs beat the 49ers 28-18 in a Super Bowl rematch at Levi’s Stadium.

Kind of.

More like name only.

The Chiefs and 49ers played without three of their top wide receivers and their starting running backs.

How did the Chiefs find other ways? Here are five observations from immediately after the game.

1. The rookies

The most compelling story from the day?

A couple of rookies.

Chris Roland-Wallace and Jaden Hicks intercepted 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy — as did Justin Reid.

Why is that compelling? Those two had combined for 14 defensive snaps all season.

That’s it.

And defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo decided a road game against one of the most complexes offenses in the NFL would be a good time for the introduction.

Roland-Wallace intercepted Purdy when he correctly read an overthrow and calmly tapped his two feet in bounds. The Chiefs turned that into seven points when Patrick Mahomes bowled over safety Malik Mustapha at the goal line.

Hicks was inserted in the game not by choice but necessity after Justin Reid briefly took a couple of snaps off. His interception came in the end zone. The Chiefs turned that into seven points, with a 12-play drive and a Mecole Hardman touchdown.

The rookies are part of the story.

The other? It’s a real credit to Spagnuolo, who dialed it up against San Francisco once more.

2. Passing game struggles

The passing game didn’t look pretty.

We might have to get used to that.

Patrick Mahomes is playing without his clear-cut two best wide receivers, with the injuries to Rashee Rice and Marquise “Hollywood” Brown; and JuJu Smith-Schuster tested his hamstring injury and didn’t make it through the first quarter.

That left Xavier Worthy, Skyy Moore, Justin Watson and Mecole Hardman taking all of the snaps at receiver.

The aftermath shrinks the Chiefs’ margin for error, and they made too many of those Sunday.

Mahomes was intercepted twice — though on a tipped pass and when Worthy fell down — leaving him with six touchdowns and eight interceptions this season. The nature of those interceptions isn’t particularly concerning.

But there are certain shots you can’t miss.

Like, say, Xavier Worthy on the opening play of the second half. Worthy had a step on the last line of defense, and Mahomes overthrew him. He had Travis Kelce open a couple of early third downs, but he didn’t find him.

To be fair, the he was dealing with pressure for a large portion of the day.

3. A menace to the 49ers

The 49ers must be tired of seeing Mecole Hardman.

Heck, there are times when Chiefs fans are probably tired of seeing Mecole Hardman.

Two years ago, Hardman scored three touchdowns at Levi’s Stadium. In last February’s Super Bowl, he had the game-winning score in overtime.

And on Sunday, he beat them again. Hardman had 55 total yards and the game-icing touchdown. He also had a 55-yard punt return in the game.

We know Hardman tears up the 49ers.

Here’s why.

Hardman has world-class speed, but it’s best utilized horizontally rather than vertically down the field. That takes advantage of a 49ers defense that’s overly aggressive in getting into the backfield, particularly star edge rusher Nick Bosa.

The 49ers have the quickest get-off in the league statistically. Which is also why they spent a lot of time disrupting Mahomes on passing downs.

4. The red zone

The Chiefs entered the day as the NFL’s fourth-worst team in the red zone.

As I mentioned during the week, a deep analysis of their red-zone woes did not show a plaguing issue but rather something else:

Randomness.

It pointed toward the likelihood the Chiefs would reverse the trend. That reversal started Sunday.

The Chiefs turned four of their five red-zone trips into touchdowns — and the only one they didn’t only reached the 19-yard line.

Kareem Hunt did not appear to have the same burst he had two weeks ago, but he will fight for every last inch offered by a defense — and then gain a few more. He’s perfect for goal-to-go situations. He scored twice in the second quarter, once from a yard out and again from six yards out.

Touchdowns instead of field goals sure make the offense look a lot better. Who knew?

5. The fake punt

At last, the Chiefs decided to go for a fourth-down.

But with a fake.

I actually don’t mind the thought.

Just not crazy about sticking with it.

There has to be an alert to move out of the play, and that was a time to use it. The 49ers kept their regular defense on the field, a flashing neon sign they were anticipating a fake. The only advantage of a fake kick is it takes the opposition by surprise.

This took no one by surprise.

And absent that, you might as well have Mahomes guiding the fourth down.

____

©2024 The Kansas City Star. Visit kansascity.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.