The 49ers led the Chiefs 20-10 in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. Then, they didn’t.
San Francisco walked off the field watching the Chiefs raise the Lombardi Trophy.
“I know we were good enough to win that Super Bowl and we didn’t, and that’s something we have to live with,” coach Kyle Shanahan said during the 49ers State of the Franchise event, via Matt Maiocco of NBCSportsBayArea.com. “And that’s why the state of the franchise right now is we got to get right back to that moment. We got to get right back to that fourth quarter and get to have a lead and we got to finish the job.”
The 49ers have a long way to go to get back where they were, though. Six months. 16 regular-season games (if all goes as planned). Postseason games.
San Francisco has gone back to the beginning. Like it or not.
“I didn’t want to go through this offseason. I want to get right back to where we left on in February and I know we have to go through a season and it’s going to be a lot harder to do -- a lot harder,” Shanahan said. “We can play a lot better and still not do what we did last time. That’s why all of our guys have to take this challenge and we got to take advantage of this offseason and we got to still find a way to take a step ahead of other people because everyone is chasing us right now and it hasn’t been that way.”
The 49ers make clear what their goal is for 2020: Super Bowl or bust.
“We had as good of an opportunity as you can ever have to be a champion, and we came up just short, so that’s by all means what we’re going for this year,” Shanahan said.