49ers come up a little short in big game
Collapse should cast doubt on a rebuilt franchise’s ability to rebound
MIAMI >> Genuinely hyping next season’s Super Bowl chances merely masked the 49ers’ pain Sunday night.
They will not start next season 8-0. Nor go 13-3 again to the NFC’s No. 1 seed. Better? Worse? A Super Bowl encore? Good luck.
Sure, it’s all possible, and the 49ers deservedly are the NFC favorites.
Super Bowl hangovers take an emotional toll. How this season ended matters. So close. So cruel.
Left tackle Joe Staley’s gutwrenching anguish at the postgame podium showed how hard a 31-20 loss in Super Bowl LIV was, after the Kansas City Chiefs rallied from a 20-10 deficit with 6 ½ minutes to go.
Admire the 49ers’ season. Praise their optimistic outlook of “being built for the long haul,” as Staley courageously said.
Look at the Atlanta Falcons, who couldn’t bounce back from their Super Bowl collapse. Or mock, no, pity the Los Angeles Rams, who didn’t make it back to this season’s playoffs as the 49ers and Seattle Seahawks regained NFC West prominence.
Seven years ago, the 49ers barely fell short in the Super Bowl against the Baltimore Ravens, and their bounce-back year saw them fall short in Seattle in the NFC Championship Game, and then came the coaching-carousel freefall.
All in all, the 49ers are stable, built for future success and have the fortitude to overcome this, as long as they realize the difference between setting a NFL record for five straight losses by three points or less (see: 2017).
A step back seems inevitable. Otherwise the 49ers will finally have their sixth Lombardi Trophy, just as they all thought they had with 7:11 minutes to go Sunday night, until Patrick Mahomes unleashed a 44-yard completion to a why-is-he-wideopen Tyreek Hill to start their rally.
“We have a young football
team, a very talented football team,” (still-franchise) quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo said. “You have to remember this feeling and let it fuel you in the future.”
Tight end George Kittle: “We have to realistically look ourselves in the mirror and say what worked well for us this year, what didn’t and how are we going to make that better.”
Last and certainly not least, coach Kyle Shanahan: “We’ll lick our wounds, we’ll get over this and we’re fired up for next year. We’ve got a lot of people coming back. I think we surprised a lot of people this year. We knew we had a good team. I’m very proud of the guys and how much better they got through the year.”
This was the only 49ers’ loss not decided in the final minute. And this was only their fourth loss all season, the others coming against the Seattle Seahawks (Nov. 11), Baltimore Ravens (Dec. 1) and Atlanta Falcons
(Dec. 15).
This loss tested how they’ve never finger pointed at teammates. They took accountability, publicly.
They had to be seething, privately.
Someone stole their ring, and will they accept that Patrick Mahomes did it?
Seven months await of speculation, dissection, condemnation and overanalyzed dissertation until their 2020 regular-season opener.
Shanahan’s honeymoon is over.
Fans, media and, quite possibly, players will scrutinized his every move. Thing is, he’s a darn good coach.
The 49ers couldn’t hire a better one. An extension? Probably on hold, because this 2020 season will test his mettle more than an 0-9 start in 2017 with a bland roster desperate for a franchise quarterback, which Garoppolo indeed is, contrary to his 2-of-9, 24yard finish.
What would have happened had ShanaLynch drafted Patrick Mahomes in 2017? Well, they still may not have had a defense capable of protecting a 20-10, fourth-quarter lead three years later.
Hypothetical endings are low-hanging fruit, as former 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh would say (and not entertain).
Shanahan has been a players’ coach, from an outsiders’ perception. Inside the locker room and meetings, he’s more hard-nosed, but appreciated, respected and valued to the point where “offensive genius” praise was expected.
He and general manager John Lynch don’t have to overhaul the roster. They don’t have to overpay pending free agents such as Emmanuel Sanders, Arik Armstead, or Jimmie Ward.
Pay the market rate, if you like, because all three weren’t just valuable commodities but promising contributors.
The 49ers do need to reward those franchise cornerstones due an extension, such as Kittle, DeForest Buckner and even Kyle Juszczyk, possibly Kendrick Bourne.
“To be so close and to come up short, it’s one of the worst feelings in the world,” Buckner said. “I believe in everybody in that (locker) room. We have something special. And we’re not finished.”
Upgrade at defensive back and wide receiver.
Add competition on the offensive line, all due respect to this year’s relief corps. Turn Raheem Mostert into a featured back or go bigger.