Why the 49ers’ Super Bowl window isn’t closing anytime soon

Eric Williams

NFC West Writer

The San Francisco 49ers are understandably frustrated after failing to bring home a Super Bowl victory for the second time in four seasons. 

No other NFL franchise has reached the NFC Championship Game four times in the past five years, and yet a sixth Lombardi trophy continues to elude the 49ers.

“The only way to win a Super Bowl is you have to get there first,” team owner Jed York told reporters at the NFL owners meetings last week. “And we’ve obviously been very close several times. And you have to keep building off it. … It’s almost worse to lose a Super Bowl than to not make the playoffs. And I don’t think that’s how teams should feel. 

“As much as I would give just about anything to have won this game or four years ago to Kansas City, you can’t leave and say the whole season was a disgrace. It’s not. It’s a disappointment to not win. But you can’t destroy yourself and everything you built because you didn’t finish and hit your ultimate goal.” 

While some NFL observers may have cooled on San Francisco’s chances to seal the deal in the big game after a couple of near misses, head coach Kyle Shanahan can take solace in the fact that he still has one of the best quarterbacks in the business in Brock Purdy. The former “Mr. Irrelevant” was in the MVP race for much of the season, and he finished it healthy after being injured in the 2022 playoffs.

“I’m just pumped that Brock gets an offseason,” Shanahan told reporters at the owners meeting. “His first year he didn’t get much of one just because he was the third quarterback. Last year, he couldn’t throw with us until training camp. This year, he just got married. He’s fully healthy. He’s going to come back here in a few weeks and get going.

“I’m just pumped to be able to go through the film with him and be on the field with him, which he hasn’t had a chance to do yet in his career.”

The 49ers start offseason work on April 15, and…


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Publish date : 2024-04-03 20:05:52

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