Time to change the Levi’s narrative.
Home opener would be great time for Levi’s Stadium to become daunting for foes
The Niners are 2-0.
Ben Roethlisberger, the long-tenured quarterback of San Francisco’s next opponent, the Steelers, is out for the season.
Yes, Sunday’s home opener at Levi’s Stadium is setting up to be part of a dream start to the Niners’ 2019 season.
And that provides an incredible opportunity for the franchise to do something that’s long overdue.
We all know that Levi’s Stadium is a contentious issue with Niners fans. They’re more than happy to tell us.
It’s gone so far that Levi’s is cited far more often as a cautionary tale than a point of pride in the Bay Area.
And I’m not saying that’s wrong. It is, after all, a building that shares a soul with its the Silicon Valley office park neighbors. And yes, it’s only
accessible to the city its team supposedly represents through public transit horror stories. And sure, it might stand as a temple to our post-capitalism, have-and-have-not economy.
But the truth is that it’s going to the home of the 49ers until NFL football is merely a no-contact 7-on-7 flag game
quarterbacked by a 72-yearold (but still super-pliable) Tom Brady and Robert Griffin V.
Like it or not, Levi’s is not going anywhere and neither are the Niners.
Right now, it seems as if the best moments at the stadium have been experienced by the Clemson Tigers, Seattle
Seahawks, Denver Broncos, and I suppose Taylor Swift. But at some point, it would be in everyone’s best interest for the 49ers to establish a home-field advantage there.
And Sunday seems like a nice time to start turning Levi’s into a tough place to play.
The operation has two prongs.
First, it’s on the players on the field.
The Niners have some serious momentum behind them right now with this strong start and Sunday’s blowout win over the Bengals. That 41-17 win is the best we’ve seen the Niners play — in all three phases — in a long time. While September football is often a mirage, if you were optimistic about the Niners heading into this season, you’re feeling great — if you were pessimistic, you’re probably reevaluating some things.
The Niners need to continue to be clever and precise on offense, fast and physical on defense, and ruthless on special teams — they need to carry that Week 2 performance in Ohio into Week 3 in Santa Clara and give fans something worth cheering for against the Steelers.
The second prong is the tricky part: fans have to show up and make some noise.
Because Niners fans, you might just have the kind of team you’ve been waiting for since the Jim Harbaugh glory days.
This is the moment to create a new reputation.
Now I’m not advocating that those Candlestick faithful who refuse to accept Levi’s Stadium break their boycott. I get where they are coming from. It’s a haul to get to Santa Clara. It’s expensive to go to these games. And geez is it hot if you’re on the wrong side of the park at the wrong time. This stadium simply wasn’t built for regular people.
That said, people make the atmosphere.
I’ve seen Niners fans turn a game against the Chargers at that soccer stadium in Carson into a day in the Bay. A fog might have even rolled in that night.
And you can ask the Chargers — who effectively play 16 road games a year — if home-field advantage means something. It does — but in year six of living in much, much nicer house, the Levi’s Stadium atmosphere isn’t deserving of the three points Las Vegas cooks into their lines.
They’re not putting on a canopy, they’re not lowering prices, and they’re not going to move the stadium to San Francisco.
This situation is going to remain the same unless fans decide they want to change it.
I’m sorry, but there’s no alternative.
And I know that there are enough Niners fans who can get over their hangups to get that job done. The team has been doing massive local TV ratings, even as they’ve been unwatchable. A ton of people still care about this team — they’re a force in this market.
But unless we’re holding up that Thursday night game against the Rams in 2017 as an example of success — and we shouldn’t — we simply haven’t seen the kind of support, or life that still backs this team at the water cooler, sports talk radio call-in lines, and social media in the Levi’s Stadium stands.
This team has some positive momentum. Now the fan base needs to start building its own.
A good showing on Sunday, followed by a tricky, but possibly rowdy Monday Night Football showdown with the Browns in two weeks can establish a new tone and make Levi’s Stadium a place that teams actually don’t want to visit, for reasons other than their body clocks.
And who knows? Maybe they’ll win another game or two this season if that comes to pass.