After cashing in on QB gambles, Niners, Chiefs in Super Bowl

A little more than two years ago, a pair of teams gambled on quarterbacks who h all kinds of potential but were far from a sure thing.

Both teams guessed right.

Kansas City Chiefs will meet San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl on Feb. 2 in Miami. Oddsmakers opened line at pick 'em in a title game featuring one franchise, Niners, trying to win a record-tying sixth Lombardi Trophy against ar, Chiefs, making ir first appearance in big game in 50 years.

ir quarterbacks: Patrick Mahomes (KC) and Jimmy Garoppolo (SF).

Mahomes, whose gaudy college stats (his 5,052 passing yards led country in 2016) were a byproduct of playing at pass-happy Texas Tech, was generally viewed as better than second-best quarterback in a 2017 draft that wasn't considered strong on quarterbacks to begin with.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid disagreed. He gave up a first-round pick in following year's draft to move up to select Mahomes in 2017. w, in his third season, Mahomes is a Super Bowl quarterback. He has 11 postseason touchdown passes, t a single interception, and has even led Chiefs in rushing last two weeks. With its 35-24 win over Tennessee on Sunday in AFC title game, Kansas City became first team in NFL history to go from trailing by double digits to winning by double digits in consecutive playoff games.

“Everybody liked this guy,” Reid said, in 2017, about reaction from Kansas City front office and scouting department after y'd spent time with Mahomes in vance of draft. “Everybody fell in love with kid and how he went about his business and how he played. That’s t something that happens every year.”

Garoppolo, a second-round pick by Patriots in 2014, was considered quarterback-in-waiting in New England, despite a limited resume as Tom Bry's backup. But with Patriots t rey to part ways with ir franchise cornerstone, and with Garoppolo's contract running out, quarterback became expendable. San Francisco acquired him in middle of 2017 season for a second-round pick.

Garoppolo won his first five starts in San Francisco and, before season was out, he h a five-year contract extension that, at time, included highest aver yearly salary in NFL history.

"When you find right guy at that position, it's really good for your franchise," Niners GM John Lynch said, t long after tre.

Though Garoppolo's 102 passer rating this season was only 3.3 points less than Mahomes', San Francisco doesn't depend on its franchise QB way Kansas City does.

Exhibit A: Garoppolo threw only eight passes and totaled only 77 yards in San Francisco's 37-20 win over Green Bay in NFC title game Sunday. He is helped by a bruising running game recently anchored by Raheem Mostert (220 yards and four TDs on Sunday). And Niners have found a game-wrecking defensive end in rookie Nick Bosa. second pick in 2019 draft h a sack Sunday to go with nine he recorded over regular season to fuel a defense that gave up fewest passing yards this season.

It all helped 49ers return to Super Bowl for first time since Colin Kaepernick took m in 2013. departure of coach Jim Harbaugh and Kaepernick's kneeling saga ushered in a period of instability. It included a carousel of four he coaches in four years that finally settled when Kyle Shanahan — son of two-time Super Bowl winning coach Mike Shanahan — got job in 2017 and soon was joined by Garoppolo.

But when it comes to Super Bowl droughts — outside of Jets and a handful of teams who have never been, body has waited longer to get to title game than Chiefs.

team that lost to Green Bay in very first Super Bowl, returned three years after that, in 1970, to win its first NFL championship. Chiefs h ir ups and downs in deces since. stat that stuck out most was ir 3-8 home playoff record since that victory over Vikings in 1970 that marked last game before NFL and its old rival, AFL, officially merged and began playing as a single league next season.

w, in a season filled with celebrations for 100th anniversary of NFL, Chiefs are back, coached by Reid, whose 14 postseason wins compiled over 20 seasons do t include a ‘W’ in biggest game of all.

Could quarterback he took a chance on — a nimble-footed, strong-armed, next-generation talent — be one to finally put him over top?

Garoppolo, to say thing of San Francisco's running game and its top-ranked pass defense, will have plenty to say about that two weeks from w.