ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly from training camp through the Super Bowl with answers to a new question being posted Thursday morning. How the guest experts responded when we asked them: What will happen in Super Bowl LIV?
SCOTT SACHS
I look forward to a close, yet high-scoring contest. San Francisco has great defense, but a few Kansas City screens, run-pass option plays, and moving the pocket a bit should negate their rush. Looking for 3-4 TDs from Mahomes, spread around to 3-4 different receivers. Thinking 37-27, with Kansas City winning.
Sachs runs Perfect Season Fantasy Football, offering LIVE Talk & Text consulting. He has multiple league championships including two perfect seasons. Sachs is a past winner of the Fantasy Index Experts Poll and a 2-time winner of the Experts Auction League.
SCOTT PIANOWSKI
Niners, under. Say something like 27-24. In spots like this, I generally want the better defensive team. The Niners are also the more physical team. The X-factor is Jimmy Garoppolo; the Niners have hidden him for two weeks but probably can't in this game. Is he ready for his close-up?
Pianowski has been playing fantasy football for over 20 years and writing about it for 18. He joined Yahoo! Sports in 2008 and has been blogging 24/7 on RotoArcade.com ever since.
ALAN SATTERLEE
It’s going to be an interesting Super Bowl no doubt, with San Francisco having such an elite defense while Kansas City has so many elite players on offense, including the great Patrick Mahomes. I know the saying that defenses wins championships but despite that I can’t go against Andy Reid, Mahomes and Kansas City. Mahomes is just too elite and I think he quickly gets his first Super Bowl win (and a Super Bowl MVP) while Reid finally gets a Super Bowl win after 21 years of an NFL head coach.
Satterlee is the Fantasy Football Insider for the Charlotte Observer and is syndicated in a few other newspapers in the southeast. Satterlee first started playing fantasy football in 1990.
DAVID DOREY
This should be one of the more enjoyable Super Bowls in recent memory, if only because Patrick Mahomes is there. It is literally the defense of the 49ers versus the offense of Kansas City, and while that usually favors the defense, this time is much less certain. In the end, I still like the 49ers to edge this out since Kansas City ranked only 29th against running backs and that is where the San Francisco offense lives. I see a very close game until the end. I want to see Kansas City win, but I expect the 49ers to take a close one. It is one of those unstoppable forces meeting an immovable object.
Dorey has been dealing out all the rankings and projections for The Huddle since 1997 and wrote up a preview of every game for the last 21 years. His specialty is schedule strength and he’s been in countless magazines, podcasts, and radio shows. He is the author of Fantasy Football: The Next Level.
MICHAEL NEASE
It is refreshing to see two teams competing in the Super Bowl that have not played in it for a while. Both Kansas City and San Francisco have provided us with some great moments over the history of the game being played. This year's game features many spectacular difference-makers, not only on both teams, but also on offense as well as defense. I give a slight edge to the 49ers because of their stellar defense. I look for it to be about a 35-31 win for them.
Nease is a member of the FSWA and has been playing the game since 1985, while also writing about it since 2001. He is a writer for Big Guy Fantasy Sports. Over the years he has sampled about all the playing scenarios that fantasy football offers, including re-drafter, keeper, dynasty, auction, IDP and salary cap leagues. You can contact Mike at mnease23@yahoo.com anytime and during the football season follow him @mike-insights.
IAN ALLAN
Kansas City is favored by a point and a half. That wasn’t what I was expected. I was mulling this matchup during the NFC Championship game and came to the conclusion that the 49ers probably would be a slight favorite. They definitely have the far better defense and the far better running game. I think they’ll have some success running the ball, perhaps keeping KC’s offense parked on the sidelines for long stretches. And there could be issues with the Kansas City defense getting gassed if it has to spend too much time on the field. San Francisco also has a really nice pass rush; I think it will have some success putting Patrick Mahomes under pressure. I don’t consider the 49ers to be a shoo-in to win; it’s a nice matchup, and it may come down to a key play or two. But if we’re picking one team to win, I’m going with San Francisco.
Allan co-founded Fantasy Football Index in 1987. He and fellow journalism student Bruce Taylor launched the first newsstand fantasy football magazine as a class project at the University of Washington. For more than three decades, Allan has written and edited most of the content published in the magazines, newsletters and at www.fantasyindex.com. An exhaustive researcher, he may be the only person in the country who has watched at least some of every preseason football game played since the early 1990s. Allan is a member of the FSTA Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame and the Fantasy Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame.
SAM HENDRICKS
The game will be close a long time. No team will score in the first quarter as both are feeling the other out. This helps KC as they always start slow. But at halftime SF leads 17-7 on a Kittle TD reception and a Coleman big rushing TD. In the third quarter San Francisco scores on their kickoff possession (24-7) before KC and Mahomes explode for 21 unanswered points to take the lead. In the fourth quarter San Francisco defense scores a TD to give them the lead after a field goal got them close, but a long Kansas City game-winning drive seals the victory. Final Kansas City 35, San Francisco 34.
Hendricks is the author of Fantasy Football Guidebook, Fantasy Football Tips and Fantasy Football Basics, all available at ExtraPointPress.com, at all major bookstores, and at Amazon and BN.com. He is a 25-year fantasy football veteran who participates in the National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) and finished 7th and 16th overall in the 2008 and 2009 Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC). He won the Fantasy Index Open in 2013. Follow him at his web site, www.ffguidebook.com.
MICHAEL NAZAREK
Kansas City 31, 49ers 28. Once again, Patrick Mahomes leads a big comeback after falling behind 14-0 and is named MVP of the Super Bowl.
Nazarek is the CEO of Fantasy Football Mastermind Inc. His company offers a preseason draft guide, customizable cheat sheets, a multi-use fantasy drafting program including auction values, weekly in-season fantasy newsletters, injury reports and free NFL news (updated daily) at its mobile-friendly web site. He has been playing fantasy football since 1988 and is a four-peat champion of the SI.com Experts Fantasy League, a nationally published writer in several fantasy magazines and a former columnist for SI.com. He's also won in excess of $20K in recent seasons of the FFPC High Stakes Main Event. www.ffmastermind.com. Nazarek can be reached via email at miken@ffmastermind.com.
ANDY RICHARDSON
I'm excited by this matchup. While Kansas City wasn't the No. 1 seed, few would dispute they were at least one of the two best teams in the AFC -- and since they were a penalty away from going a year ago, they've certainly earned their spot. San Francisco, meanwhile, was the NFC's very best team for most of the season. My respect for the Kansas City passing game and San Francisco running game, and the overall offenses these two coaching staffs have crafted, is such that I'm expecting a higher-scoring, back-and-forth game, with plenty of big numbers on both sides. I'm going with San Francisco 30, Kansas City 27, but those scores being flipped wouldn't be surprising. My square pool numbers are generally awful, but otherwise I'm looking forward to Sunday evening.
Richardson has been a contributing writer and editor to the Fantasy Football Index magazine and www.fantasyindex.com since 2002. His responsibilities include team defense and IDP projections and various site features, and he has run the magazine's annual experts draft and auction leagues since their inception. He previews all the NFL games on Saturdays and writes a wrap-up column on Mondays during the NFL season.