The NFL season has come down to one final game between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs, a game predicted to be an offensive shootout.

The 49ers were not expected to come this far, as Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers coaching staff have turned the team around after going 4-12 the previous season. Lots of fans thought they would never be in the running for a championship.

However, the Chiefs are barking at the door, beating out San Francisco with -1.5 Vegas odds to win the Super Bowl.

Former varsity football assistant coach Ray Paglio Jr., however, believes that San Francisco will be the ultimate winner. “I think San Francisco’s gonna win, and I think the difference in that game is that I believe that they will be able to take four and rush with four and drop back with seven to contain Mahomes,” he said.

After a 220 yard, four touchdown-performance in the NFC Championship Game, 49ers RB Raheem Mostert will look to produce again in the biggest game of his career.

Paglio believes the matchup of Mostert vs. the KC defense will be one to watch. “One of their backs got hurt last week, so Mostert could be on track to produce. But, Kansas City is amazing at stopping the run when needed, so it’ll be tough to tell,” Paglio said.

Some fans are calling the 49ers the “perfect team,” having Pro Bowlers and top talent on offense, defense, and special teams.

San Francisco also has one of the best kick returners in the NFL, and junior Adam Gentis wants to see him shine. Gentis said, “San Francisco needs to have a lot of great blocking to give space for the speedy return man Richie James! As long as he gets some good blocks, he will be able to get himself around the Chiefs defense.”

Paglio, however, believes the 49ers have some holes on their team. “If I had to guess, it’d be their receivers, and their receivers aren’t really ‘bad’ per se. The 49ers are a run-heavy team, so the receivers are scaled back from other teams,” he said.

Sophomore DJ Hubbard believes San Francisco’s star-filled defense will not play like they have all season. “In my eyes, I feel like San Francisco will tense up, similar to the Rams last year. The all-stars of their season are gonna tense up when it matters,” he said.

With QB Patrick Mahomes, TE Travis Kelce, and WR Tyreek Hill, the Chiefs have an array of weapons that they can manage to beat their opponents. However, against this 49er team, that might not be the case, according to Paglio.

“Keep a tight end in, keep a running back in, ’cause those are valuable parts to the passing game. They don’t keep Kelce in for most plays when they need extra blockers, so I think they need to run short, quick pass plays against a defense like San Francisco’s,” Paglio said.

Hubbard thinks Kansas City will be more relaxed than the past Super Bowl teams. “I really think the Chiefs will try their best to play loose and stick to their game plan as they did throughout the season, that’s what KC is really keen to do,” Hubbard said.

After every Super Bowl, a player is given the MVP award for being the most impactful, and senior Cody Piunno believes it’s going to be someone on defense. “Since I believe San Francisco is gonna win, I think Richard Sherman is gonna win the MVP for the game. I really hope he intercepts Mahomes once or twice,” Piunno said.

The game kicks-off at 6:30PM on Feb. 2, 2020 and will be televised on Fox.