Why motion offense will be crucial to 49ers, Chiefs in Super Bowl 54

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Defense wins championships, but Super Bowl LIV features two heralded offensive minds at head coach in Kyle Shanahan and Andy Reid. While the two were born 21 years apart, they both have modern offenses that always keep the opposing defense guessing. 

How do they do this so? A lot of moving parts. 

The 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs lean heavy on using motion. In fact, the 49ers used motion the most out of any team in the NFL this season, while the Chiefs came in at No. 5, according to Pro Football Focus. 

One example for the 49ers is how Shanahan has been able to get the ball in rookie receiver Deebo Samuel's hands as a ball-carrier. San Francisco has capitalized on defenses by using a fake counter to running back Raheem Mostert while Samuel comes around for a handoff.

What this comes down to for both teams is speed, speed and more speed. The Chiefs and 49ers have the two fastest offenses by average top speed with their ball-carriers, according to the NFL's Next Gen Stats. 

Blink and these guys are headed to the end zone. 

In two playoff games, these offenses have been complete opposites. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has thrown the ball 70 times while 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo has been busy handing the ball off. Jimmy G only has 27 pass attempts in San Francisco's two wins.

[RELATED: Sherman explains why 49ers' defense is so tough to beat]

And yet the 49ers still have racked up 662 total yards in the playoffs, though, the Chiefs' offense has been even better at 838 yards. 

Sunday easily could come down to who gets more stops on defense, however, each team's offense will be extremely difficult to decode.

Programming note: NBC Sports Bay Area feeds your hunger for 49ers Super Bowl coverage with special editions of “49ers Central” all week (8 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 9 p.m. Tuesday and 3 p.m. Saturday).

Also tune in at 1 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday for a two-hour special of "49ers Pregame Live" with Laura Britt, Donte Whitner, Jeff Garcia, Ian Williams, Kelli Johnson, Greg Papa and Grant Liffmann. That same crew will have all the postgame reaction on "49ers Postgame Live," starting immediately after the game.

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