What Patrick Mahomes Said About the 49ers' Defense Under Steve Wilks

Facing the San Francisco 49ers is nothing new to Patrick Mahomes.

It'll be the fourth time that Mahomes will face them when the Kansas City Chiefs take the field on Sunday. However, what is new to him is the defensive coordinator for the 49ers in Steve Wilks.

The 49ers' defense may have the same core and base structure, but there is a difference in how Wilks operates. I asked Mahomes earlier today what the differences are with the 49ers' defense now that Wilks is in charge.

"Coach Wilks is a great defensive coordinator. I've played him in a couple spots, and he does a great job of game planning, different blitzes and stuff like that and he's always throwing a wrinkle in there," answered Mahomes. "The two defensive coordinators that were before him were great coaches. That's why those great coaches are where they're at right now.

"The 49ers were a great scheme, and he's done some of that scheme, but he's put his own stamp on that defense. As far as his pressure packages, it's different coverages. He's obviously done the stuff that they've been great at for a long time. He's done a tremendous job at that, but he puts his own stamp and that's what we have to be prepared for."

This Super Bowl matchup for Mahomes will mark the third consecutive time that he will face the 49ers with a different coordinator. But what makes Wilks such a drastic change is the fact that he wasn't brought up in the 49ers' system. Robert Saleh started out as coordinator for the 49ers, then when he left to become a head coach, they promoted DeMeco Ryans who had been a linebackers coach since Kyle Shanahan was hired by the 49ers.

Facing Wilks, as Mahomes said, certainly gives a new wrinkle, especially against the blitz. That is what Wilks likes to dial up and something I'm sure Mahomes will be anticipating come Sunday. Aside from blitzing, the greatest strength that Wilks has is with his second-half adjustments. That has been them for the majority of the season. The 49ers' defense performs better once they see what the opposing offense is doing.

However, that won't be in the best interest of Wilks. Giving Mahomes a whole half to work exposing the defense's weaknesses will be severely consequential. For the 49ers' sake, they better hope he adjusts early instead of waiting on a whole half.