Because, 49ers

A fan’s positive and negative perspectives of the Super Bowl loss

The San Francisco 49ers blew it again. Because, 49ers.

Harsh, but it’s the reality. It’s another game they should have won, but didn’t due to shooting themselves in the foot over and over again. Congrats to Kansas City: their elite quarterback showed up when it mattered and made the plays. They capitalized on the mistakes of the 49ers.

Because, 49ers.

Kyle Shanahan is the best thing to happen to this organization but he comes with a few flaws. Most notable being his teams have a problem with letting opponents hang around and ultimately will find a way to leave you disappointed. That’s all there is to it. You are going to hold your breath and your blood pressure will skyrocket until the final minutes of an postseason game unless it’s a blowout because a letdown is inevitable. It just came later this year, it followed the same script: strange injuries, total collapse, and then heartbreak.

Because, 49ers.

Kyle Shanahan should not be fired and no massive changes beyond the defensive coordinator need made. We remember what happened with Jim Tomsula and Chip Kelly. Hell, there’s the love for Harbaugh and I doubt even he could be this productive if given the chance. Teams would kill for the organization the 49ers have, even if it mean heartbreaking losses like the one we watched.

The Shanahan polarization proves that the only way you’re ever going to enjoy the torture that is the San Francisco 49ers in today’s social media cesspit depends on how much you’re willing to put up with bad analytical garbage, double standards, and horrible takes like the one you’re reading here.

I didn’t post overreactions after the game because, well, I needed to get away from all of this. I’m not one of the (terrific) beat writers of this team and I definitely can’t stay objective with this. I love this team. They know nothing of my existence and probably don’t care. Regardless, I was gutted.

Rather than weighing out what’s good and bad about the 2023 San Francisco 49ers post-Super Bowl loss across a bunch of paragraphs of overreactions and second-guesses, I have two separate perspectives to speak for themselves. I flip between these several times a day:

It was a successful and great season!

There are so many things I can scream and groan about regarding the 49ers. The offense was not handled as effectively later in the season as it should have been, and is so widely scattered between mental mistakes and a porous offensive line that it’s easy to forget just how productive it is. The Super Bowl was a headscratcher, yet again. One too many special teams miscues. Too many missed blocks, too many mistakes on first down, too few penalty flags for Chiefs holding. Playing like the Chiefs offensive line is impossible unless you are the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes is only good in the final minutes but when Purdy does it it’s not the same. The 49ers are stuck behind the hump and the window is closing blah, blah, blah.

And yet, I’m having a hard time spurring myself into a complete and total rage. I’m hurt, disappointed, and happy? Happy because the 49ers played football in February and made the postseason again. Happy because I see a lot of good going forward with this team.

I’m not sure if it’s necessarily that much worse a loss than the last two Super Bowl losses (games I really felt the 49ers would win). This team has some flaws, but it’s not like the last two losers were without some glaring imperfections themselves. I said the 49ers weren’t perfect before.

I’m 40 years old. I get the sense that I’d find this loss hurting much more if I

A: Were in my mid-20s talking to Seattle Seahawk fans again in my job as a blackjack dealer where they refused to tip me because I rooted for a division rival.

And

B: Hadn’t already written about eight other seasons and was able to know exactly what to expect for the next four months, only to be surprised when they secured homefield advantage.

What I’m getting at is that the disappointment of this team may not actually be as bad as several think it is to the point that major coaching changes need happening. Or maybe I just don’t care. It is what it is. This is the San Francisco 49ers. Accept it.

The one change is Steve Wilks. You know who watched the season and who didn’t by their reactions to him being relieved of duties with the 49ers. Sorry, he had to go even if the 49ers won. It’s a philosophical issue and he wasn’t a good fit. We’ll never know how much of that defensive gameplan was Kyle Shanahan vs. Steve Wilks either. The fact Shanahan is calling time outs because he doesn’t know what his coordinator was doing only put the nail in the coffin. Wilks nearly cost the 49ers the NFC Championship. You can’t tell me Dre Greenlaw, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, etc. etc. have all regressed or gotten worse with Talanoa Hufanga out.

And yes, when Dre Greenlaw got hurt, that opened everything up during the Super Bowl. Then again, if you haven’t anticipated freak injuries on this team to level the playing field, you haven’t been a fan for very long. It sucks for Greenlaw, who is a great player and an even better person (which is saying something).

The San Francisco 49ers are a much, much different team than when the York family first took over and stumbled. There wouldn’t be a second Super Bowl loss in five years if Jed York hadn’t grown as an owner and if Kyle Shanahan wasn’t the head coach. I firmly believe that with the trajectory of this team before Shanahan arrived.

Then there’s the officiating. I give it an “S” for satisfactory. Bill Vinovich isn’t going to win any awards, but at least there wasn’t a phantom PI this time around. It’s not like the 49ers are the first team the Chiefs have held and gotten away with it.

Still, maybe the NFL as a whole gave the team the short end of the stick with officiating again. If you believe that and think that’s the reason the 49ers lost, I’ll direct you to this post to remind you: that’s one thing that will never change. The NFL makes changes based on ratings and merchandise. You are watching, so they’ll keep rolling out this archaic officiating that can’t even spot a ball right.

You don’t like it? Speak with your rating and your dollar. Stop watching it. Stop buying 49ers merchandise. Stop posting on social media on your love of the team. You obviously aren’t satisfied. Don’t keep going back to the restaurant and ordering the same meal, cleaning the plate, then complaining to management the food sucked demanding your money back. This isn’t because the league has gotten worse or as good as you remember it in the 90s; it’s not because the NFL refuses to adapt to modern technology; and it’s not because the NFL is a massive corporate blowhard. You just aren’t pleased. Complaining won’t work so might as well stop. Step away for a season (or an offseason) and go live life rather than a team you vicariously live through only to have a league they play in ruin it.

Be happy they aren’t the New York Jets is all I’m saying.

If you are sticking around, you’re a sports fan. Deal with it, I suppose. This is what comes with being a rabid fan. The 49ers made it to the Super Bowl again. They have been in the NFC Championship four of the last five years. How cool is it to have that? I’ll take it. This is a fun team to watch.

That was an excellent season, and we saw so much growth on so many levels. They just didn’t get it done. For some reasons far beyond their control. See you all next year.

Unacceptable and pathetic season

When the 49ers walked off the field with their third consecutive Super Bowl loss, the last shreds of hope I had this team can get over the hump went with it. I don’t doubt the players tried their damndest to make a win for the fans and their coaches. It proved an uphill battle against the Chiefs and referees, and ended with them cracking under the strain.

And I conclude none of this is acceptable or worth the grief. Both from the team and the league. Yet we stick around when we aren’t enjoying it? The hell is wrong with us?

As far as the 49ers are concerned, they can still win a Lombardi and their window definitely isn’t shut, but until proven otherwise, I will assume they won’t. This isn’t a knock on them so much as it’s more my own pessimism saying, “Prove it to me.”

And really, I’m the last organic lifeform in this universe they should feel a need to prove anything to.

Kyle Shanahan has displayed he’s the best thing to happen to the 49ers in years. He’s also displayed how some things will never change. I will always say, “How do they blow this one?” for the rest of his tenure until they do something different. Once I know Kyle Shanahan has figured this out, I’ll change my tune, but until then, the same situation arrives and I am hoping for a different result. That’s the definition of insanity, my friends.

Even if Shanahan won the Lombardi and got bounced in several Super Bowls after, I doubt none of them would be as painful as the last three.

Should they be back in a Super Bowl, I will root for them, I will hope in my heart they can put a stop to all of this. I’ll also use logic and prepare for the worst. Probably up to maybe picking the other team. The 49ers have proven to me they will find a way to screw things up. Emotionally, I can at least feel easier not stacking my eggs in that basket.

And now for the NFL as a whole. The league isn’t rigged, fixed, or any of that nonsense you read—but it is broken. And the league doesn’t seem to have any initiative to fix it. For instance: they still don’t know how to correctly get a first down, and trotting out the chains to see if someone got the line to gain is just pathetic.

The whispers that the NFL won’t throw a flag to decide the game—or the analysts that suggest it—is nonsense and plain lazy. Nothing is more frustrating than a winning play that has obvious holding, illegal man downfield, etc that the NFL fails to correct. Even when the 49ers do it, it feels bittersweet when you know it wasn’t flawless. How many of us cringe when we see the lead up to The Catch II and Jerry Rice fumbles but the 49ers offense stays on the field? It looks like a shiny Ferrari with a slight scratch in the door. Imperfect. Some may say ruined. Or I’m the only one who thinks about these things.

And if someone from the NFL is reading this, I just want to restate: THIS ISN’T FUN WHEN IT HAPPENS. Unless you’re a Chiefs fan. This isn’t competitive, it’s not awe-inspiring, it’s not making a legacy. It’s just making people question how serious you are about the league vs how serious and loyal you are to money. Right now, it’s clearly the latter because you have no intention on improving something clearly in pieces. All of those holds in overtime happened because the Chiefs knew they could.

None of this would bother me (as much) if the NFL didn’t hold people accountable after the fact and simply say, “This person screwed up, they will be punished.” Instead not only do we let the most egregious of officials run the Super Bowl, but we let them ruin these games over and over again with little recourse.

In other words: Bill Vinovich never should have officiated another Super Bowl after he botched the last one.

The 49ers are a beloved team by all of us, but they have some issues, and those issues are sandwiched in the parity of molasses and dysfunction that is the NFL. We may never get a 49ers Super Bowl win, let alone a dynasty as long as the league stands in our way and Kyle Shanahan wants to make stupid playcalls or defensive coordinator hiring decisions on top of it.

We’ve all accepted those glory days from the 80s and early 90s are gone. At this point, time to also accept they are never coming back.

The NFL is going to keep pumping out these terrible games because of our love of the teams and the players on it. They will warp our minds with “player safety” and “international expansion” when in reality the only catalyst for any of that is lawsuits and more money.

Watching only encourages the league to keep doing this. So everyone should stop. I know no one won’t.

Brock Purdy is a top 5 QB and a boss. See you all next year.

Looking ahead

Like many of us, I’m a glutton for punishment. So that says I’ll watch again. Plus I have a job to do or else I’d shut everything off.

The Brandon Aiyuk details scare the crap out of me, but it is what it is. For now I get my Sunday back which means more books to read, more productive weekends and less football. It also means those of you bored can come here and read whatever grammatically challenged disaster I can cook up.

Then September will roll around and I’ll get to do all of this over again. I’ll watch the 49ers. They are favored to go to the Super Bowl again. They might make it this year. They might actually win it. I know I won’t count on it until I actually see it.

All I know is there’s going to be some weirdness or crazy ridiculous things happening because that’s what we as 49ers fans have set ourselves up for. All this heartbreak should make us stronger. But really, I just say it’s the side-effect of being a fan of one of the better teams in all of sports. Being a 49ers fan is never easy at the end, but it’s certainly a fun ride and a great high when it’s good. Especially when you got a team of good dudes like this one on and off the field, guided by a culture installed by the guy coaching them.

Stay faithful, my friends.

Because, 49ers.