Kurtenbach: The ideological battle at the heart of 49ers-Chiefs

Is Sunday’s Chiefs-49ers game a rivalry contest?

Seeing as the 49ers haven’t beaten Kansas City in a decade — and how they infrequently play each other — such a distinction is a stretch.

But there is a fundamental disagreement at the core of this game — one that will likely decide this, the fifth meeting of the teams since the Niners last won in 2014.

Building an NFL team is, in many cases, simple accounting. There is an annual salary cap, it cannot be overtaken, and coaches and general managers need to find ways to fit an entire NFL roster under that number.

The 49ers and Chiefs are not approaching the same question from the same direction. Kansas City, obviously, pays quarterback Patrick Mahomes a lot — $37 million against this year’s cap, per OverTheCap.com. The 49ers will do something similar with Brock Purdy at the end of this season — they are already accounting for it on this season’s books.

Both teams have a stars-and-scrubs roster. The Chiefs, who have drafted better in recent years, have better scrubs.

Where these teams differ is where they spend their remaining money.

Kansas City has invested in the middle — the players near the ball.

The 49ers’ money is spent a bit further outside.

The difference in priorities should also be on full display on Sunday. This isn’t just a Super Bowl rematch—it’s a battle of football ideologies.

Kansas City signed two players to massive contracts before this season — defensive tackle Chris Jones and center Creed Humphrey. They’re the two best players at their respective positions in the NFL. One snaps the ball, the other lines up just across from it.

Consider it an investment position: Looking at the top of the Chiefs’ books, they’re also spending big money on free safety Justin Reid ($14.2 million against the cap in 2024) and left guard Joe Thuney ($26 million). Big contracts for middle linebacker Nick Bolton and right guard Trey Smith seem likely come the end of the season, too.

Kyle Shanahan, meanwhile, is going bare-bones at guard and center. Jake Brendel is a hit-and-miss player, but he’s in his third season as the 49ers’ starting center. Why? He’s cheap. The Niners locked him into a four-year deal at $4.1 m annually in the spring of 2023. (Humphrey will make $18 million annually when his new contract starts.)

The team’s guards, Aaron Banks and rookie Dom Puni, are both on entry-level deals. Banks’ likelihood of being re-signed to a market-rate deal decreases by the week.

While Kansas City might spend a combined (and justified) $50 million annually at guard-center-guard in 2025 and beyond, Shanahan simply does not believe in investing big bucks in those positions, believing his zone running scheme is superior to overall talent on the interior.

Where these two teams are not spending money is just as informative. The team’s top-paid wide receiver is Justin Watson (who?) at $2.92 million per season. Meanwhile, the 49ers have two receivers making top-dollar in Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel (both locked in for 2025) and another in Jauan Jennings, who will make $7.7 million annually on a contract extension signed this summer.

The Chiefs aren’t paying a running back over $1.6 million this season. The 49ers signed Christian McCaffrey — who is yet to play this season — to a three-year extension worth $19 million annually.

I’m sure Kansas City, like the Niners, would like to keep all its best players, regardless of position, but, of course, that’s infeasible. Both teams have faced tough money decisions with veterans in recent years.

Kansas City, when faced with paying wide receiver Tyreek Hill or cornerback L’Jarius Sneed—outside players— optioned to jettison both. And the winning machine kept moving forward. (It helps to have won the Super Bowl three times when making tough decisions like that.)

When faced with similar cash crunches, the Niners traded defense tackle DeForest Buckner instead of extending his contract following the 2019 Super Bowl and cut defensive tackle Arik Armstead this past offseason following another Super Bowl loss. The former was a decision that forced the team to chase good money with bad money, the latter might have been justified, given Armstead’s injury woes, but has left the Niners’ run defense in a worse spot than it was last year, when it wasn’t particularly good.

Yes, when these two teams have been forced into a stars-and-scrubs roster, one has gone with flash, the other bash.

Whose model is right, wrong? Recent matchups give a pretty clear decision.

But if styles make fights, Sunday should be a fascinating contest. If the 49ers can find a way to neutralize Kansas City’s massive advantages — the interior of the lines — they’ll claim this route.

And if Kansas City’s meat grinders in the middle win again? Well, it’ll be more than just a loss in the standings for the Niners. It could be a full-on repudiation of how this San Francisco team was built.