More than 100 million viewers have watched the Super Bowl for 38 straight years. The average number of viewers for the regular season’s Sunday Night Football, which typically features the game of the week? Around 20 million.

That means if you plan to watch the game but didn’t follow football closely during the 2019-2020 season, you’re far from alone. We’ve whipped up a quick-read Kansas City vs. San Francisco study guide to make sure you’re well-prepared.

Strength against strength

For the first time since 2014, when the young, suffocating Seattle Seahawks took on Peyton Manning’s record-breaking Denver Broncos, the Super Bowl features a true matchup of the league’s best offense against the league’s best defense. Kansas City led all playoff teams offensively for the season at 6.2 yards per play. (The Dallas Cowboys were ahead of them in the regular season, at 6.5, but were inconsistent from game to game and struggled to finish drives. The Chiefs had neither of those problems.) San Francisco, meanwhile, has given up only 4.6 yards per play—not only the best mark this season but tops in the NFL since 2015. The 49ers have virtually no weaknesses on defense.

The prolific passer

For years, fans have wondered which quarterbacks might emerge at the forefront of a new generation of all-time greats once players like Manning, Tom Brady and Drew Brees aged or retired. Enter Patrick Mahomes. With his combination of foot speed and arm strength, the 24-year-old Texas Tech graduate is making history only two years into his NFL career. He became the second-ever unanimous Most Valuable Player award recipient last season, when he threw for 50 touchdowns and 5,097 yards. He’s been just as efficient this year despite missing two games and playing at less than full strength in a couple of others because of a midseason knee injury.

The shutdown corner

There’s a dearth of Super Bowl experience across these two rosters, but the leader of the 49ers’ defense stands out as a notable exception. Cornerback Richard Sherman helped lead the Seahawks to two Super Bowls—a 2014 win over the Broncos and a 2015 loss to the Patriots—and now returns with a new team. Pro Football Focus, which grades the success of every player on every play, recently named Sherman “the cornerback of the decade.” The 31-year-old is known for shutting off an entire side of the field, which could provide a challenge to Mahomes.

An overdue coach

For more than a decade, the Chiefs’ Andy Reid has led lists of best current coaches who’ve never won a Super Bowl. The 61-year-old helped revolutionize offense in the NFL starting in 1999 with his tenure as coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. He’s 221-142 all-time between stints in Philadelphia and Kansas City, and has helped his team advance to the playoffs in 16 of his 21 seasons. But he’s known for postseason flameouts, having only coached in one previous Super Bowl—the Eagles’ three-point loss to the Patriots in 2005. A championship ring is the only thing missing from Reid’s résumé.

A three-headed monster

One of the most notable strategic changes in the NFL over the past decade involves running back deployment. With few exceptions, teams aren’t leaning on a single workhorse back to rack up 25-30 carries per game anymore. Using a committee has proven to be the more efficient approach, and no team embraces that philosophy more than the 49ers. Three San Francisco running backs—Raheem Mostert, Matt Breida and Tevin Coleman—rushed for more than 500 yards during the regular season, and it’s anyone’s guess which will be featured most prominently in the game plan against the Chiefs.