Leo Chenal, Tershawn Wharton, and Mike Pennel were secret stars in SB LVIII
Let's talk about some unsung heroes in a dominant defensive performance.
“Why didn’t the 49ers just run the ball more?”
If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me this following the Chiefs’ dominant defensive performance over San Francisco in Super Bowl LVIII, I’d probably have like five dollars (which is not a lot of money but is a lot of nickels). And the answer is somewhat complicated if you want to delve into issues of formations, situational football, personnel, and Steve Spagnuolo doing a good job (as ever) forcing his opponent to play a little bit left-handed.
That said, the answer is also pretty simple; The Niners didn’t run the ball more because Leo Chenal, Tershawn Wharton and Mike Pennel played the game of their lives, and it’s really hard to run the ball consistently when multiple defensive guys are dominating their snaps up front.
While stars like Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, and the terminators the Chiefs have at cornerback grabbed most of the attention following the Super Bowl’s conclusion, the work these role players did at the line of scrimmage was just as crucial to Kansas City walking away back-to-back champs.
And so, as we close out our Super Bowl film reviews when it comes to players (I’ll circle back to talk about Spags and Reid), it seemed only fitting to talk about guys who didn’t get the credit they deserve. Because in order to win it all, you need the other guys to step up in the biggest moments. And that’s exactly what Chenal, Wharton, and Pennel did.