USA TODAY International Edition
Super time for ex- Chief/ now 49er
Bell: Dee Ford puts 2018 AFC gaffe behind
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Football fate can be so funny.
Dee Ford is headed to Super Bowl LIV with the 49ers as one of the big- play artists rolling with the best defensive line in the NFL.
“I’m numb right now,” Ford told USA TODAY Sports amid the euphoria of the winning locker room after a 37- 20 drubbing of the Packers in the NFC title game. “But I’m happy.”
Let the irony drip all the way to Miami. This almost happened last year.
Ford was one step away from the Super Bowl with the Chiefs a year ago, except that step came too fast as the speed- rushing defensive end jumped offside to negate a Tom Brady interception near the end of regulation time that would have sealed the AFC title. The penalty allowed the Patriots to resume a go- ahead touchdown drive, and the Chiefs wound up losing in overtime.
Blown chance. And the stuff that makes goats – the traditional type, not Greatest of All Time fare.
Now, as fate has delivered, Ford has reached the Super Bowl stage … where he will face his former team, the Chiefs, who dealt him to San Francisco in the offseason. You can wonder, like a lot of people have, if he would have been dumped if he never committed that key penalty.
Regardless, now Ford, 28, will face those Chiefs with the big prize at stake.
“Let’s get this right: There’s no love lost nowhere,” Ford told me privately at his locker before he met with other media. He was humble, positive and, naturally, upbeat, while weighing the intriguing subplot attached to 49ers vs. Chiefs. A former first- round pick, he played his first five seasons in Kansas City.
“It’s just me playing my brothers,” he added. “At the end of the day, we just have to compete. But I’ve got so much love for the people in that building. And likewise, they’ve got love for me.”
Yet I could detect a bit of an edge as he considered the stakes in play on Feb. 2 at Hard Rock Stadium.
“Special,” he said. “To be able to play my old team, it’s a blessing. We’re rolling deep, though.”
In the days leading up to the NFC championship game, Ford was certainly reminded about the gaffe in last year’s AFC title game. But the questions last week will likely pale when compared with what’s ahead – two weeks of hype, a week in Miami, the biggest stage in sports.
So, of course, I had to ask Ford about that penalty. And I won’t be the last.
“It was a sloppy play on my end,” Ford said. “I don’t have a lot of encroachment penalties. Never have. It was just sloppy, but not a recurring thing.”
The mishap in the AFC title game was also the last time that Ford jumped offside. He’s gone the entire season without a single flag for offside, encroachment or lining up in the neutral zone. When I mentioned that, he just grinned and repeated that he’s never been flagged much for such infractions.
Besides, he knows. That penalty might as well be ancient history. Can’t be changed now.
The current task involves, well, getting the jump to put a rush on Patrick Mahomes.
The 49ers ( 15- 3) head to Miami with so much momentum. After surviving a brutal gantlet of top competition during the second half of the season, they dominated the Vikings and the Packers to earn the Super Bowl trip – a year after the team finished 4- 12. They have the look of a complete team that has peaked at the right time.
“It’s about peaking every game,” Ford said. “Games are going to turn out crazy each week. You’re going to have to win any type of way that you can.”
Lately, the 49ers have controlled through their rushing offense. In the two playoff games, they’ve rushed 89 times for 471 yards – indicators with the ripple effect of keeping their defense off the field and fresher. But the 49ers have shown that they might also win with defensive domination. Balance matters. Especially now.
“Everybody’s got to be ready,” Ford said. “You know what I mean? You don’t know who’s going to have the hot hand. Or we all can have the hot hand.”
Sounds like a man who is clearly looking at the fate ahead of him rather than what’s in the past.