The 49ers have been a resilient team for years now. They’ve had some extremely devastating losses.
But this one in the Super Bowl has to be the most crushing, humiliating loss of all time, and I think it shakes their confidence to their core.
Every time the 49ers have fallen short under Kyle Shanahan, they’ve been able to make an excuse. They lost but Nick Bosa got held. They lost but Jaquiski Tartt dropped an interception.
They lost but Brock Purdy got injured. If those things hadn’t happened, surely the 49ers would be champions by now, because they have a great coach and a great team. They’re simply victims of bad luck.
But not this time.
Now they have to interrogate their head coach. Because everyone agreed the 49ers had the best roster in football this past season, and it finally earned the No.1 seed for the first time since 2019. The players handled their business and mostly stayed healthy, which is rare for them.
And in the Super Bowl, the 49ers defense played so much better than it did four years ago when it gave up 31 points to the Chiefs. This time, the defense gave up only 19 points to the Chiefs in four quarters.
And then the game went to overtime. And the 49ers won the toss. And then Shanahan made the biggest blunder in Super Bowl history. He asked for the ball first because he didn’t understand the playoff overtime rules. And the Chiefs laughed at him.
Now the 49ers players can’t look at Shanahan the same. They can do almost everything right, as they did this past season, and he can still find a way to mess it up.
If the 49ers start slow next season, don’t be surprised if Shanahan loses the locker room. He may have lost it already.
