NEW ORLEANS — At bottom, football is math. A brutal, ruthless form of it, but math. The offense schemes to gain an advantage — more blockers than defenders — while the defense plots to foil those plans.

Which is why sometime during the Super Bowl on Sunday, San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick will line up four yards behind center, a running back directly behind him, and receive the snap. He will shove the ball into the running back’s stomach and, from there, do one of three things: hand the ball off, fake and run outside, or prime for a play-action pass.

All of these options are appealing to the 49ers. None of them, in sum, are appealing to their opponents. It is a hellacious challenge, defending this Pistol formation, operated by this San Francisco team, with its speedy quarterback and its read-option tendencies and its general proficiency at scoring a lot of points and gaining a lot of yards.

“You name it, we got it,” the offensive coordinator Greg Roman said. “We’re like the diner.”

In the last two playoff rounds, Green Bay and Atlanta pored over the 49ers’ menu but could not eat. The choices overwhelmed them. The Baltimore Ravens, next up, found a corner booth and have yet to leave. After flummoxing Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, the Ravens have spent the last two weeks practicing and preparing, honing instincts and concocting strategy, steadfast in their belief that for all of San Francisco’s success with the Pistol — and despite the near-mythical status it has attained recently — it is hardly unstoppable.