***Chiefs vs 49ers Official Game Day Thread***

[TopekaRoy]

NFL Offensive Player
of Week 2

"Me again. I'm gonna win it every week!"

[TopekaRoy]

The Kansas City Chiefs (2-0) (0-0 @ Home)



vs.

The San Francisco 49ers(1-1) (0-1 Away)



Sunday, September 23, 12:00 Noon CT
at
Arrowhead Stadium
Kansas City, Missouri


Television coverage:
FOX


Radio Coverage:
Kansas City


Lawrence/Topeka:


Manhattan, KS:


St. Louis


Watch Online:
(Links Updated)
VIPBoxTV
LiveStreamz.net
DimSports
Zunoxide.net
Boss Cast
atdhe.top
Feed2All
Stream2Watch.cc

Disclaimer: Links are provided for your convenience. No guarantee is made regarding quality of links or even if they work at all. Use a browser with an adblocker and always make sure your antivirus software is up to date. Use at your own risk.

Before watching any streams please READ THIS important message.

[TopekaRoy]

Stats & Stuff

Weather forecast: Perfect! 69 degrees farenheit. Clear. 5 mph SE winds.

Line: Chiefs -6.5, Over/Under: 55

Against the Spread:


Last 6 Games Head-2-Head:


OddsShark Super Computer Prediction:
Chiefs 28.5
49ers 21.8

Schedules/Results:

Chiefs

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx49ers

Sunday Sep. 9 at LA Chargers StubHub Center, Carson, CA 4:05pm ET CBS W 38-28 Sunday Sep. 16 at Pittsburgh Heinz Field, Pittsburgh, PA 1:00pm ET CBS W 42-37 Sunday Sep. 23 San Francisco Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO 1:00pm ET FOX Buy Tickets Monday Oct. 1 at Denver Broncos Stadium, Denver, CO 8:15pm ET ESPN Buy Tickets Sunday Oct. 7 Jacksonville Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO 1:00pm ET CBS Buy Tickets Sunday Oct. 14 at New England Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA 8:20pm ET NBC Buy Tickets Sunday Oct. 21 Cincinnati Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO 1:00pm ET CBS Buy Tickets Sunday Oct. 28 Denver Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO 1:00pm ET CBS Buy Tickets Sunday Nov. 4 at Cleveland FirstEnergy Stadium, Cleveland, OH 1:00pm ET CBS Buy Tickets Sunday Nov. 11 Arizona Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO 1:00pm ET FOX Buy Tickets Monday Nov. 19 at LA Rams Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, MX 8:15pm ET ESPN Buy Tickets Sunday Nov. 25 BYE Sunday Dec. 2 at Oakland Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA 4:05pm ET CBS Buy Tickets Sunday Dec. 9 Baltimore Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO 1:00pm ET CBS Buy Tickets Thursday Dec. 13 LA Chargers Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO 8:20pm ET FOX/NFLN Buy Tickets Sunday Dec. 23 at Seattle CenturyLink Field, Seattle, WA 8:20pm ET NBC Buy Tickets Sunday Dec. 30 Oakland Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO 1:00pm ET CBS Buy Tickets

Sunday Sep. 9 at Minnesota U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, MN 1:00pm ET FOX L 24-16 Sunday Sep. 16 Detroit Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA 4:05pm ET FOX W 30-27 Sunday Sep. 23 at Kansas City Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO 1:00pm ET FOX Buy Tickets Sunday Sep. 30 at LA Chargers StubHub Center, Carson, CA 4:25pm ET CBS Buy Tickets Sunday Oct. 7 Arizona Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA 4:25pm ET FOX Buy Tickets Monday Oct. 15 at Green Bay Lambeau Field, Green Bay, WI 8:15pm ET ESPN Buy Tickets Sunday Oct. 21 LA Rams Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA 8:20pm ET NBC Buy Tickets Sunday Oct. 28 at Arizona U. of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, AZ 4:25pm ET FOX Buy Tickets Thursday Nov. 1 Oakland Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA 8:20pm ET FOX/NFLN Buy Tickets Monday Nov. 12 NY Giants Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA 8:15pm ET ESPN Buy Tickets Sunday Nov. 18 BYE Sunday Nov. 25 at Tampa Bay Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL 1:00pm ET FOX Buy Tickets Sunday Dec. 2 at Seattle CenturyLink Field, Seattle, WA 8:20pm ET NBC Buy Tickets Sunday Dec. 9 Denver Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA 4:05pm ET CBS Buy Tickets Sunday Dec. 16 Seattle Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA 4:05pm ET FOX Buy Tickets Sunday Dec. 23 Chicago Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA 4:05pm ET FOX Buy Tickets Sunday Dec. 30 at LA Rams LA Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA 4:25pm ET FOX Buy Tickets

Notable Quotables:
Chiefs:

“In this business it’s not so much about what you did the week before, it’s about what you do today. We have to keep answering these different challenges. We did okay last week, now we will prepare ourselves for this week.”

--Chiefs’ Head Coach Andy Reid

49ers:

“[Andy Reid] will give you everything on offense. It's always a treat to get a chance to game plan against him because he's such a creative offensive mind and he's a great coach and he's fun to play for from what I hear”

--49ers Cornerback Richard Sherman

[TopekaRoy]

Injury Report:

James Berry	S	Heel	Did Not Participate In Practice	Doubtful
Ben Niemann	LB	Hamstring	Limited Participation in Practice	Doubtful
Spencer Ware	RB	Knee	Limited Participation in Practice	Questionable

Joshua Garnett	G	Toe	Did Not Participate In Practice	Out
Marquise Goodwin	WR	Quadricep	Limited Participation in Practice	Questionable
Jaquiski Tartt	S	Shoulder	Limited Participation in Practice	Questionable

[TopekaRoy]

Depth Charts:

Chiefs

Offense
POSITION	STARTER	2nd	3rd	4th
WR	Tyreek Hill	Demarcus Robinson	De'Anthony Thomas
TE	Travis Kelce	Demetrius Harris	David Amerson
LT	Eric Fisher	Cameron Erving
LG	Parker Ehinger	Bryan Witzmann
C	Mitch Morse	Jordan Devey
RG	Laurent Duvernay-Tardif	Jordan Devey
RT	Mitchell Schwartz	Cameron Erving
WR	Sammy Watkins	Albert Wilson	Jehu Chesson
QB	Patrick Mahomes	Chad Henne	Matt McGloin
FB	Anthony Sherman
RB	Kareem Hunt	Spencer Ware	Charcandrick West

Base 3-4 Defense
POSITION	STARTER	2nd	3rd	4th
LDE	Chris Jones	Rakeem Nunez-Roches
NT	Xavier Williams	Derrick Nnadi
RDE	Allen Bailey	Jarvis Jenkins
LOLB	Justin Houston	Tanoh Kpassagnon
LILB	Anthony Hitchens	Terrance Smith
RILB	Reggie Ragland	Ukeme Eligwe	Ramik Wilson
ROLB	Dee Ford	Frank Zombo	Tamba Hali
CB	Kendall Fuller	David Amerson
SS	Eric Berry	Eric Murray
FS	Daniel Sorensen	Robert Golden
CB	Steven Nelson	Terrance Mitchell

[TopekaRoy]

49ers

Offense
POSITION	STARTER	2nd	3rd	4th
WR	Pierre Garcon	Kendrick Bourne	Aaron Burbridge	Max McCaffrey
TE	George Kittle	Garrett Celek	Cole Hikutini	Cole Wick
LT	Joe Staley	Garry Gilliam	Andrew Lauderdale
LG	Laken Tomlinson
C	Weston Richburg	Erik Magnuson
RG	Jonathan Cooper	Joshua Garnett
RT	Mike McGlinchey	Garry Gilliam	Darrell Williams Jr.	Pace Murphy
WR	Marquise Goodwin	Aldrick Robinson	Victor Bolden Jr.	Richie James
QB	Jimmy Garoppolo	C.J. Beathard	Nick Mullens
FB	Kyle Juszczyk	Malcolm Johnson
RB	Alfred Morris	Matt Breida	Raheem Mostert	Jerick McKinnon

Base 4-3 DEFENSE
POSITION	STARTER	2nd	3rd	4th
LDE	Arik Armstead	Ronald Blair III	Kentavius Street
LDT	Earl Mitchell	D.J. Jones
RDT	DeForest Buckner	Sheldon Day	Jullian Taylor
RDE	Solomon Thomas	Cassius Marsh	Jeremiah Attaochu
WLB	Malcolm Smith	Elijah Lee	Fred Warner
MLB	Reuben Foster	Brock Coyle	Korey Toomer	Mark Nzeocha
SLB	Eli Harold	Dekoda Watson	Pita Taumoepenu
CB	Richard Sherman	Jimmie Ward	Tyvis Powell	Tarvarius Moore
SS	Jaquiski Tartt	Don Jones	Chanceller James	Marcell Harris
FS	Adrian Colbert	Jimmie Ward	Tarvarius Moore
CB	Ahkello Witherspoon	Greg Mabin	Trovon Reed

[TopekaRoy]

More Stats & More Stuff

Team Leaders:




Matchup:


Expert's Picks:


Prisco's Pick:

This will be the first home start for Patrick Mahomes, who has been on fire. Too bad the Chiefs defense isn't very good right now. That means we will see a shootout between Mahomes and Jimmy Garoppolo. It will be fun to watch as the Chiefs win a high-scoring game.

Chiefs 31 49ers 28

[TopekaRoy]

Chiefs vs. 49ers: Game Preview
From Chiefs.com

Posted Saturday, Sep 22, 2018 06:51 AM

Matt McMullen Chiefs Reporter Chiefs.com@KCChiefs_Matt

It’s been nothing short of a thrilling couple of weeks for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes has tossed an NFL-record 10 touchdowns, Kansas City has yet to trail in a game and, most importantly, the Chiefs have left two opposing stadiums with victories.

In fact, Kansas City is just the seventh team in the last 16 years to open the season with two wins on the road, and the first in five seasons.

The Chiefs secured each of those victories in part because of the hottest offense in the league, racking up 80 points through just 120 minutes of action – the most points through two weeks since the Denver Broncos in 2013.

It’s been an exhilarating beginning to Mahomes’ tenure as Kansas City’s starting quarterback, but as far as Head Coach Andy Reid is concerned, the work is just getting started.

“We have a ton of things that we can improve on,” Reid said. “As defensive coordinators study and see these things, they will throw different wrinkles at you and you have to rise up every week. That’s not a simple part of this. In this business, it’s not so much about what you did the week before, it’s about what you do today. We have to keep answering these different challenges. We did OK last week - now we have to prepare ourselves for this week.”



That challenge continues against the San Francisco 49ers (1-1), who are coming off an impressive offensive performance of their own in last week’s victory over the Detroit Lions.

The 49ers tallied 30 points in that game, holding off a late Lions’ rally to notch their first win of the season. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo bounced back from a rough performance in Week 1 to post a 118.4 passer rating in the contest, flashing the ability that made the 26-year-old Garoppolo such an intriguing figure last season.

San Francisco was 1-10 before the former second-round pick took over under center in 2017, ranking 28th in the league in scoring. That all changed when Garoppolo took the reins in Week 13, as the 49ers went on to post the fifth-best offense in the NFL and a perfect record through his five starts to close out the season.

He’s a player that has the talent to grow into one of the better quarterbacks in the league.

“He’s really good – he’s going to be one of the best quarterbacks we face all year,” said linebacker Anthony Hitchens. “He can throw the deep ball and short ball, he can extend plays…He’s a good quarterback for their scheme, they like to run [bootlegs] and stretch runs. This will be a good task for us, just like every week.”



Garoppolo’s favorite targets through two weeks have been tight end George Kittle - who has seven catches for 112 yards on the season - and veteran wide receiver Pierre Garcon, though San Francisco’s top weapon has been second-year tailback Matt Breida.

The Georgia Southern product leads the NFL in rushing with 184 yards, averaging a ridiculous 8.4 yards per attempt on 22 carries. He possesses a unique combination of elite speed and dynamic lateral quickness, making for a tough test on Sunday.

“They’re running the ball really well. They lost [tailback Jerick] McKinnon early, but Breida has turned into a great thing for them. He’s got legitimate speed and adds a dimension of playmaking ability to their offense,” said Defensive Coordinator Bob Sutton. “[49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan] runs a really good system based on the zone run – [where you take] one cut and take it up field.”



Of course, the Chiefs have a few dynamic offensive playmakers of their own.

Seven different players have caught a touchdown already for Kansas City, matching the Chiefs’ total from all of last season.

That includes wide receiver Tyreek Hill, whose 263 yards from scrimmage rank fourth in the NFL, and tight end Travis Kelce, who caught a pair of touchdowns in last Sunday’s win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Wide receivers Chris Conley, Demarcus Robinson and De’Anthony Thomas, tailback Kareem Hunt and fullback Anthony Sherman have also all caught a touchdown through the air, forming a truly unique aerial attack.

It’s simply been the top offense in the NFL through the season’s first two weeks, with each player putting their own accolades aside in the name of collective success.

“The only thing we want our guys to understand is, ‘What can we do to help us win?’ Because when it’s all said and done, it’s not the stats that are celebrated…in this industry, you are celebrated by the alphabets - and the most important [letter] is the W,” said Offensive Coordinator Eric Bieniemy. “We just want to make sure that collectively we are focused on that, and that’s all that matters.”



The Chiefs will have an opportunity to demonstrate their offensive prowess yet again on Sunday against a 49ers’ defensive unit that features one of the league’s top pass rushers in DeForest Buckner.

The third-year defensive tackle already has 3.5 sacks on the season – the third-most in the league – and is more than capable of creating havoc up front. That makes for an intriguing matchup with the Chiefs’ offensive line, which has yielded only two sacks on the season.



It all wraps into what should be another exciting afternoon of football as the Chiefs play at Arrowhead Stadium for the first time on the 2018 campaign.

Kansas City has won 17 of their last 21 regular season contests at Arrowhead dating back to 2015, and for Mahomes, it represents his first opportunity to play in front of his home crowd when it counts.

“I’ve have had this game circled for a long time,” Mahomes said. “Just being able to play at home in front of these fans - it’s going to be an amazing thing. I can’t wait for the moment, just when I get to run out on the field and hear those fans roar.”

He’ll have that chance soon enough as the Chiefs take on the 49ers at 12:00 p.m. CT.

[TopekaRoy]

Chiefs vs. Steelers: Five Things to Watch
From Chiefs.com

Posted Saturday, Sep 22, 2018 10:41 AM

BJ Kissel Chiefs Reporter Chiefs.com Email @ChiefsReporter

Here are five things to watch:

1. The Atmosphere

It’s going to be crazy.

The loudest stadium (and fans) in the NFL will get another chance to prove it starting when the gates open up on Sunday morning. The parking gates officially open at 7 am, but there’s generally a good number of fans who tailgate in line before the gates even open.

It’s just what they do, and they’re ready to see this group in person.

The Chiefs have begun the season with back-to-back road wins over a couple of teams that many had picked as AFC playoff contenders in the Chargers and Steelers.

It’s also not just that they’ve won, but it’s also how they’ve won. We’ve seen fireworks.

The Chiefs’ offense currently leads the league with 73 points scored, and second-year quarterback Patrick Mahomes has set a new NFL record with 10 touchdown passes through two weeks.

“I’m extremely excited,” Mahomes said this week of getting ready his first home start on Sunday. “I’ve had this game circled for a long time. Just being able to play at home in front of these fans, it is going to be an amazing thing.

“I can’t wait for the moment just when I get to run out on the field and hear those fans roar.”

The fans have done plenty of roaring over the years, and even recently as the Chiefs have won 18 of their last 22 regular-season games at Arrowhead.

“We love playing in Arrowhead,” Chiefs’ coach Andy Reid said this week. “Our players get fired up and it’s hard for them to come out individually and express it, but they get fired up. When you come out of that tunnel and it’s red and it’s loud, it’s a beautiful thing. I know the people in Kansas City love getting in there and doing that. We look forward to it, it’s a great experience.

“It’s what makes the NFL great, that’s a big part of it.”

2. The key is slowing down the 49ers’ standout defensive line

The 49ers defense is led by their defensive front, which features several guys who would be the type of players you’d want coming off the bus first.

They’re big, long, strong and extremely athletic for their size.

DeForest Buckner—the third-year defensive lineman out of Oregon who was the No. 7 overall pick back in the 2016 NFL Draft—currently ranks second in the league with 3.5 sacks. He stands at 6-feet-7 and weighs around 300 pounds.

“He was a great basketball player at one time, too,” Reid said this week of Buckner. “A big kid and they’re a big defensive front, and physical. Buckner can rush the passer, they move him around, he’s got a nice little combination of moves that he makes, and he’s very long. He and (No.) 91 [Arik Armstead], are big guys that were college teammates. They know each other and how to play off it and they bring it. High motors.

“That’s a good front right here, that’s a very good front.”

The key to success on offense is always slowing down the opposing teams best player, particularly when they play along the front, but Buckner is a rising star in the league and should be a major focus for the Chiefs’ offensive line, as well as anyone watching the game who’s interested in the matchups inside the matchup.

3. How do the Chiefs handle the league’s leading rusher?

The 49ers’ offense boasts the league’s leading rusher in Matt Breida—the second-year player out of Georgia Southern who has 184 yards rushing so far this season.

But what’s even more impressive than the fact that Breida has done this after the 49ers’ initial featured back—Jerick McKinnon—was lost for the year with a knee injury in the week leading up to the season opener, is that McKinnon has put up those numbers while averaging 8.4 yards-per-carry, which also leads the league.

Breida’s game is built around speed and utilizing the zone concepts and one-cut running scheme the 49ers’ offense loves to employ. He’s the perfect back for their system.

“We have to do a good job of containing him and make sure everyone is getting their edges and playing good defense on him,” linebacker Reggie Ragland explained this week of facing Breida, who possesses a different skill set than the two running backs they’ve faced already this year.

49ers’ head coach Kyle Shannahan is a noted play-caller and offensive mind who has the respect of Chiefs’ defensive coordinator Bob Sutton.

The 49ers offense loves to use a lot of shifts and motions pre-snap as well as some misdirection to try and find ways to get their guys in as much open space as possible.

Besides communication, which is always important, the Chiefs’ defenders must, therefore, trust their plan and fly around without any hesitation. The 49ers have some guys who can flat-out fly and don’t need any extra help trying to get separation.

4. Can the Chiefs bring down Jimmy Garoppolo?

While the box score stats will tell you that Garoppolo has been sacked nine times this season, which is the third-most in the league, the natural connection would be something about the fact that the offensive line must not be doing a great job of giving him time to throw.

Well, the tape shows something else.

It shows that Garappolo isn’t afraid to stand in the pocket and wait for things to develop down the field, and it’s in the waiting that he’s been in situations in which the pocket around him has collapsed and he hasn’t moved. The fact that he’s waited so long is what has largely contributed to a number of those sacks.

According to the numbers over at Pro Football Focus, Garappolo has actually waited the second-longest amount of time in the league before leaving the pocket to run with an average of 6.23 seconds. He’s got the fifth-longest time in the league on average time before being sacked at 3.94 seconds.

Therefore, the Chiefs’ defensive lineman, as well as the edge rushers, must keep working towards him to try and bring him down. If he’s going to stand in there, you better keep coming. Other teams have had success in doing this—the Lions had six sacks in their matchup last week, although it came in a losing effort.

The Chiefs also have the benefit of playing at home, which means we’ll probably see some silent counts and even some tempo from the 49ers offense to try and take the crowd out of the equation.

5. Can Mahomes and the Chiefs’ offense keep it up?

The 2013 Denver Broncos are the highest-scoring team in NFL history. They scored 606 points on the season, which surpassed the 2007 New England Patriots, which previously had the record with 589.

So, with a 16-game season, that means the Broncos’ team averaged 37.9 points per game.

Through two games, the Chiefs have averaged 40 points per game.

But in fairness, those numbers are way too early to do anything other than plant in the back of your mind for context about how truly special of a start it this season has been. It’s not any kind of a prediction of future success.

If anything, Reid wants to remind everyone that the offense is led by a second-year player who at some point is going to have some growing pains.

“There will be learning experiences going on here,” Reid said of Mahomes’ hot start to the season. “Everything has not been roses up to this point. It looks like it, but that has not been the case. He has a ton of things to work on. As he goes on, there are a lot of great defensive minds in this league and they will present it to him. One advantage I think he had was he was able to work against Bob [Sutton] at training camp and had a lot of things thrown at him.

“Everyone has their flavor and you have to be able to answer it. If you don’t, you have a problem.”
Well, let’s hope the Chiefs are ready and prepared to execute against this flavor of defense that the 49ers are bringing to town.

There’s reason to believe they’re ready as they faced the same scheme in Week 1 against the Chargers and their defensive coordinator Gus Bradley.

Robert Saleh—the 49ers’ defensive coordinator—worked under Bradley in both Seattle and with Jacksonville as the linebackers’ coach, and he runs the same Cover 3-heavy scheme.

Again, according to Pro Football Focus, the 49ers have run Cover 3 a league-leading 60 percent of the time so far this year, with the Chargers running it the third-most at 53 percent.

It’ll be another tough challenge for Mahomes and company on Sunday as the 49ers will be the latest to try and throw new things and new wrinkles at the young quarterback, who has answered every challenge thus far.

“We’re just trying to take whatever matchup we feel like it the best matchup on that particular play, and execute it,” Mahomes added.

[TopekaRoy]

Game Preview from ESPN.com

Chiefs QB Mahomes looks to stay sharp against 49ers

Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been the talk of the league after the first two games, and he will try to keep it going on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers in the Chiefs' first home game of the season.

The Chiefs are one of seven teams that are 2-0, but Kansas City is the only 2-0 team that played its first two games on the road.

Mahomes was outstanding in both, being named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week after each of the Chiefs' first two games.

Mahomes has thrown 10 touchdown passes, an NFL record for touchdown passes after two games, and he has yet to throw an interception. His passer rating of 143.3 leads the NFL by a sizable margin. The Chiefs lead the NFL in scoring (40.0 point per game) in large part because of Mahomes' excellence.

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid notes Mahomes has not been perfect, however.

"Everything has not been roses up to this point," Reid said. "It looks like it, but that has not been the case. He has a ton of things to work on."

Mahomes, in his first full season as a starter, agrees.

"There's always places you can get better on this offense and this team," Mahomes said.

Nonetheless, it appears Reid knew what he was doing when he traded away last year's starting quarterback, Alex Smith, and handed the team over to Mahomes in his second season as a pro.

Reid is still concerned about how Mahomes will react when he faces a little adversity.

"As defensive coordinators study and see these things, they will throw different wrinkles at you and you have to rise up every week," Reid said. "That's not a simple part of this. In this business it's not so much about what you did the week before, it's about what you do today. We have to keep answering these different challenges."

The 49ers (1-1) will be the next team to try to slow down Mahomes, but they will need to improve on defense to do it. They rank 23rd in the league in total defense after a 24-16 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in the opener and a 30-27 victory over the Detroit Lions last week.

However, the 49ers add an important ingredient this week as linebacker Reuben Foster is back after serving a two-game suspension for violating the NFL's policies on personal conduct and substance abuse.

"Everyone knows how good of a tackler he is," 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said. "But he's also good in coverage. He can blitz the quarterback. He can do a lot of things. Just having his presence out there, just from a leadership standpoint, guys gravitate to him. We really enjoy having him around."

The 49ers also are hoping to get another starting linebacker, Malcolm Smith, back this week after he missed the first two games with a hamstring injury.

Rookie Fred Warner, who has manned the middle the last two weeks, leads the team with 19 tackles, so Shanahan was unsure at midweek what his linebacking alignment would look like on Sunday.

"Reuben hasn't been here in two weeks (and Wednesday was) going to be Malcolm's first day of full practice," Shanahan said Wednesday. "So we want to see how all of those guys do and it'll be a tough decision at the end of the week, but a tough decision I'm going to be happy to have to make."

The 49ers have a big defensive line, led by 6-7, 300-pound defensive tackle DeForest Buckner. He currently ranks second in the league with 3 1/2 sacks on the season.

Offensively, the 49ers are looking for Jimmy Garoppolo to be the sensation he was last season, when he was 5-0 as a starter. He had a rough start against the Vikings, throwing three interceptions in his first NFL loss as a starter. He was solid last week, completing 18 of 26 passes for 206 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

But Garoppolo was sacked six times in that game. Pass-rushing has not been a strong suit for the Chiefs so far this season, as they have just two sacks.

The surprise for the 49ers last week was running back Matt Breida, who had 138 rushing yards against the Lions and leads the NFL in rushing yardage after two games with 184. His impressive 8.4 yards per carry also lead the league.

Kansas City has allowed opposing team to average 4.5 yards per rushing attempt, which ranks 23rd in the NFL, and the Chiefs will need to shore up that department against Breida and the 49ers.

The Chiefs have a major running threat of their own in Kareem Hunt, who led the NFL in rushing last season with 1,327 yards. He is not off to a great start this season, however, averaging just 3.6 yards per carry. He was limited to 48 yards in last week's 48-38 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.

Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill has not been a disappointment, though. He has 259 receiving yards, which ranks third in the NFL, and he has done it on just 12 receptions, giving him an average of 21.6 yards per catch.

At times, he figures to be matched up against 49ers four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Richard Sherman.