The NFL is down to its final four, and with the 49ers on the outside looking in, the rooting interest locally is as simple as A-B-C — Anybody But Chiefs.

Most of the country has been affected to a degree by “Chiefs fatigue” and would like nothing better than to watch Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans without the two-time defending champions.

It goes to a different level in the Bay Area. The 49ers led the Chiefs in two Super Bowls and lost them both in addition to one-sided regular-season losses at Levi’s Stadium in 2022 and 2024. Then there are the fans abandoned by the Raiders, who saw their last game in Oakland in 2019 but have long had a sports hatred for the Chiefs dating back to the days of the AFL.

But the 49ers finished 6-11 after being in the NFC title game four of the last five years. The Raiders are residing where they have for the better part of the last quarter century at 4-13, looking for a new coach and general manager.Amid the failure stand the Chiefs (16-2), who will playing in their seventh consecutive NFC title game after a 23-14 win Saturday over the Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium.

Kansas City will host Buffalo (15-4), a team they’ve sent home three times in the postseason since 2020, in hopes of becoming the first team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls. The Bills won 27-25 when Baltimore, which turned the ball over three times, couldn’t come up with a 2-point conversion with 1:33 to play.

If the Chiefs win, they’ll face either upstart Washington, a 45-31 winner over Detroit, or Philadelphia, which survived the Los Angeles Rams 28-22 Sunday in the snow.

Those faithful to the 49ers are still stinging from their own failure at a “Three-peat” on Jan. 20, 1991, when a late Roger Craig fumble led to Matt Bahr’s game-winning 42-yard field goal at Candlestick Park. They’re galled at the thought of Patrick Mahomes winning one more game for his 17th win in the postseason, passing Joe Montana for No. 2 on the all-time list.

Following the 2019 season, there was 2-3 Jet Chip Wasp to Tyreek Hill and Jimmy Garoppolo missing Emmanuel Sanders in a 31-20 collapse. A year ago, the 49ers made just enough mistakes to fall 25-22 in overtime.

Raider Nation watched with disgust as the Chiefs, who have won eight of the last 10 meetings since the move to Las Vegas, won their latest ring on their home field and have a 20-game lead (75-55-2) in the all-time series including the postseason.

The Chiefs, who have won nine straight AFC West titles, win with such regularity there’s a natural inclination for everyone outside of Kansas City to dislike them. Coach Andy Reid has morphed from a Kyle Shanahan “can’t win the big one” coach to a 300-game winner along with Bill Belichick and George Halas.

You can’t go five minutes without seeing another “Jake from State Farm” commercial with Mahomes and Andy Reid, followed by Mahomes hawking a cell phone plan. Travis Kelce has become a cottage industry. The hoopla surrounding Kelce and his girlfriend, Taylor Swift, adds another layer of obnoxiousness for most everyone outside the Chiefs’ universe. Swift’s guest Saturday in a private box? All-everything women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark.

Never has a midwest franchise looked more like Hollywood.

A look at the three teams remaining in the playoffs that could do the Bay Area a favor by ending the quest for a first-ever “Three-peat”:

Bills (15-4) >> Linebacker Terrel Bernard upstaged the quarterback duel between presumptive MVP Lamar Jackson of the Ravens and the likely runner-up Josh Allen. Bernard punched the ball loose from Mark Andrews, one of the most reliable tight ends in the league, when the Ravens looked to be on a roll and wearing the Bills down.

Then Andrews dropped a 2-point conversion pass from Jackson that could have tied the game. Allen was error free and under control, with no turnovers, while Jackson turned it over on an interception and a lost fumble.

Eagles (16-3) >> Has there ever been a free agent signing as impactful as Saquon Barkley? His touchdown runs of 62 and 78 yards and 205 yards on 26 carries enabled Philadelphia to withstand a Rams team that was playing as well as anyone over the last month.

Hard to imagine the 49ers playing as well as the Rams in those conditions.

If I’m Barkley ($12.583 million average per year), I’m not setting foot into training camp until getting a dollar more than Christian McCaffrey ($19 million).

Barkley aside, the Eagles’ offensive and defensive lined were the key to a resurgence after falling apart apart in 2023 following a blowout loss to the 49ers.

Commanders (12-5) >> The Commanders, thankfully shorn of the oppressive incompetence of former owner Daniel Snyder, were remade in a year by GM Adam Peters and coach Dan Quinn. Their biggest move was getting quarterback Jayden Daniels with the No. 2 pick in the NFL Draft. In two playoff wins, Washington’s offense has seven touchdowns, five field goal attempts, punted once and turned it over on downs three times. No turnovers.