The Kansas City Chiefs remain the smart pick heading into Super Bowl LIV for the simple reason of having the more in-form quarterback, according to analyst Cian Fahey.
Fahey was speaking on The Snap's Super Bowl LIV preview and noted that while he is backing the Chiefs to lift the Lombardi Trophy, there is little between the teams.
Where Fahey does see a superiority though, is in the comparison between the Chiefs' quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his opposing number, Jimmy Garoppolo.
"The only major difference between these two teams is at the quarterback spot," Fahey explained.
"Jimmy Garoppolo threw eight times in the Championship game and he also should have been intercepted in one of those throws. He had three more plays erased by penalties but in the playoffs as a whole, he has played really poorly.
"I feel like the focus has been on he hasn't thrown that much because he didn't have to which is true, but he also has not played well. He did not play well in the Vikings game, he didn't play well in the Championship game."
If Garoppolo is to get a Super Bowl ring this year, Fahey believes he will have to replicate the feat of then-Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles when he won Super Bowl LII.
"He didn't play well throughout the playoffs either," Fahey said of Foles, "but he had the best game of the postseason or of that season in the Super Bowl and that was a game where the Eagles had a match-up advantage at every single spot."
With a career-defining performance required from Garoppolo, Fahey doesn't believe much else separates the sides.
"While I think the 49ers are the best team pretty much everywhere except for quarterback, I think those improvements are slight.
"The offensive line in San Francisco isn't greater individually but it is greater as a collective it's greater as a run-blocking unit, whereas the Chiefs' offensive line is better at pass-blocking probably.
"If you look at the receivers the Chiefs' individual receivers are better but once you talk about Kyle Shanahan and the work in that scheme the 49ers wide receivers are giving a sort of kick up.
Ultimately though, Fahey noted, "when you come to this sport and the design of this sport at the moment having the greater quarterback and better offense is the safer pick."
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