VIDEO: Chiefs Took Quirky 4th-Down Red Zone Play in Super Bowl LIV From 1948 Rose Bowl

The Kansas City Chiefs surprised the viewers at home and the San Francisco 49ers equally when they broke out a ridiculous play in which Patrick Mahomes and Sammy Watkins spun around in the backfield before Damien Williams ran up the middle with a direct snap to complete a fourth-down conversion. On the next play, it was Mahomes who rolled into the end zone on a one-yard run.

If those plays looked like an odd single-wing version from the late 40s, it's because that's exactly what they were. Offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy used those plays from Michigan, when the Wolverines defeated USC in the 1948 Rose Bowl.

This is awesome. The Chiefs are really one of the most imaginative organizations in sports and it's nice that Andy Reid won a title so he didn't have to go down as a "great coach never to win the Super Bowl" despite being better than some coaches that did win a Super Bowl. https://t.co/KutCEFaAxd
— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) February 3, 2020

As good of a coach as Kyle Shanahan is, you're asking a lot of him if you're expecting him to be prepared for direct snap plays that were prominent 70 years ago.

Plays like this are why Bieniemy is on the cutting edge of offensive innovation. Shanahan expected Kansas City to air it out downfield, and they turned back the clock with running plays that knocked the 49ers off their game.

This is how the Chiefs set up the first 4th and 1 conversion. It was a direct snap to Damien Williams: pic.twitter.com/KvOck5Anuu
— Dani Welniak (@KCTVDani) February 3, 2020

You need to leave no stone unturned to move the ball against Robert Saleh's defense. Bieniemy might have needed to go back to Cold War-era college football to find that one interesting wrinkle Saleh hasn't seen before, but it worked out and help the Chiefs pick up seven of their 31 points.