As 49ers arrive, what’s next?
Lofty expectations: Tightknit group looks to quash story line of failure
MIAMI — The 49ers woke up Monday morning to a new world.
Their thrilling adventure was over, with an abrupt and unhappy ending. They know their team, their bond and the feel of the journey will never be the same.
The 49ers were probably at least one year ahead of schedule all season. But by getting to the Super Bowl, and losing in dramatic fashion, their Age of Innocence is over. They will enter next season with expectations. A different burden. A cemented narrative of their defeat that they will try to jackhammer away.
If they made the mistake of opening up their social media apps or turning on the TV talking heads Monday morning, they would learn that they had FAILED MISERABLY. They would see fingers pointed because SOMEONE IS AT FAULT.
As 49ers assistant coach Katie Sowers tweeted Monday
morning, as part of a bigger thought, “This loss has unfortunately reminded me of the hatred in this world.”
There is something about the NFL that brings out the ugliest sides of some people. Maybe it’s the booze. Maybe it’s the gambling. Maybe it’s the violence of the game. It’s not just enough that the game was entertaining, that both teams played well at times and not so well at others, that one of the transcendent athletic stars of our time shone in the brightest moment. There has to be anger and sometimes frightening hostility unleashed toward the losing team.
So, in the course of seven minutes in the fourth quarter, coach Kyle Shanahan became a boob, Jimmy Garoppolo became an embarrassment, the 49ers’ defense became overrated and the whole season became a disaster.
Of course, none of that is true. It was a sudden ending. The entire stadium — thrilled Chiefs, stunned 49ers, scrambling media — was in shock at the complete turnaround. That what looked like a 49ers win suddenly became a loss and a Kansas City coronation.
“That’s exactly how it feels — disbelief,” George Kittle said late Sunday. “We answered the call almost every single time this season. Our mentality was we are going to finish this one out. And then when you don’t do it, you want to look in the mirror and ask why.”
There will be an offseason of asking why. Of replaying those final seven minutes over and over.
But the reality, for cooler heads, is that this season was a completely unexpected success, thanks to Shanahan, Garoppolo and the defense.
Yet, things will never be the same.
A team never gets to experience that first taste of success twice. And even if the 49ers get back to the Super Bowl, they will have expectations and history. A shadow and a narrative. Shanahan couldn’t get away from a story line three years in his past with a different team, so the “can’t hold on to a lead in the big one” tag will follow him. He will be this era’s younger, skinnier Andy Reid.
The last time the 49ers were in the Super Bowl, they didn’t win. It was a different scenario — they were out of it right from the start and then clawed their way back into contention before failing in a final drive. Those final plays in the Superdome end zone haunt those players to this day. That failure — and the next season’s loss in the NFC Championship Game — might have hastened the implosion of those Jim Harbaugh teams.
This team seems better situated for the future than those of the Harbaugh era did.
“That’s exactly how it feels — disbelief . ... Our mentality was we are going to finish this one out. And then when you don’t do it, you want to look in the mirror and ask why.”
George Kittle, 49ers tight end
Harbaugh inherited a team of veterans hungry for success. His style was abrasive and tended to wear people out. The window for that group was going to be open only for a short time.
This team appears more built for the long haul. Shanahan and general manager John Lynch methodically built their team and saw it ripen sooner than expected. The players are young, and they have chemistry that can last and grow.
“This is a team I wouldn’t trade for anything,” fullback Kyle Juszczyk said. “Without a doubt, it’s been the most fun I’ve had in the NFL. I think we really established something.
“I see a bright future from here.” He isn’t the only one. “We have a young football team, a very talented football team,” said Garoppolo, who said he had never felt such a bond on any other team.
“You have to remember this feeling and let it fuel you in the future.”
There are no guarantees that this young team will get back to the Super Bowl. Just ask Dan Marino, who made only one appearance, in his second year, in his Hall of Fame career. Just ask the Cincinnati Bengals, who have never been back after Joe Montana pulled their hearts out of their chests with his bare hands in the final moments of Super Bowl XXIII, kind of like Patrick Mahomes did to the 49ers on Sunday night.
The 49ers know they missed a rare opportunity. One that isn’t guaranteed to come again.
And they know the journey ahead will be different.
But that doesn’t devalue the journey they’ve just taken.