SANTA CLARA — My daughter-in-law sent a text to my wife from Boston while on an evening break at a work conference. There was background noise.
“I’m at a bar called Cheers,” she texted. “I guess it’s a TV show that’s popular.”
Sam “Mayday” Malone and Co. were off the air four years before she was born. She’d somehow missed years of reruns. Same with her husband (and my son).
Besides being one of those “damn, I’m getting old” moments, it illustrated a point to be made during the week of Super Bowl 60 that was preceded by the AMC production “Rise of the 49ers.” It was more a four-part celebration than documentary.
Bill Walsh, the 49ers coach who died in 2007, called it Camelot, and exclusive footage and interviews over the years combined with the black-and-white photography of Michael Zagaris brought it all back to those fortunate enough to witness it.
Yet it was so long ago — the 49ers last won the Super Bowl following the 1994 season — a younger generation of fans were aware of the championships without having any perspective of how the five Lombardi Trophies were achieved.
The 49ers won their first Super Bowl over the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 24, 1982. The same year “Cheers” made its debut.
The nostalgia with “Rise of the 49ers” made for a compelling watch. Joe vs. Steve. Ronnie Lott, Roger Craig, Jerry Rice, Dwight Clark and more. It was all worth reliving.
The underlying downside is that it will never happen again. The NFL isn’t built that way any longer. Then-owner Eddie DeBartolo treated the 49ers as if they were the current Dodgers, outspending everyone else to the point where salary caps were instituted to level the playing field.
The last hurrah was a free agent spending spree designed to conquer the Dallas Cowboys that resulted in their last championship following the 1994 season, enabling Steve Young to escape the shadow of Joe Montana with a 49-26 win over the San Diego Chargers in Miami.
The younger part of the 49ers fan base identifies more with three lost Super Bowl opportunities, one against the Baltimore Ravens in New Orleans and two against the Kansas City Chiefs in Miami and Las Vegas. Maybe they’ll win one under Kyle Shanahan, maybe they won’t.
There will be more disappointment. It’s a built-in feature of how the NFL is constructed.
But the history makes it so anything short of Super Bowl championship makes it a lost season for much of the fan base that wanted to be a host team at Levi’s Stadium Sunday when the Seattle Seahawks face the New England Patriots.
So enjoy the Super Bowl even without the 49ers, get used to more despair and don’t let it affect your life for even a single day.
Cheers.
Los Angeles Rams Matthew Stafford accepts the Most Valuable Player Award at NFL Honors Night at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. A.P. Photo
Random Super Bowl week notes
— The Santa Clara substation and 49ers’ injury woes has become a Super Bowl week punchline, as evidenced by NFL Honors Night at the Palace of Fine Arts.
Emcee Jon Hamm took notice of a seated Christian McCaffrey and noted the 49ers were “a team I assume is named after the number of players currently on IR.”
Then he took aim at the electric substation rumor in a staged gag regarding the injuries which gained traction as a possible route cause.
“I wanted you to know this was an unfounded, ridiculous rumor. Forty-Niners general manager John Lynch is here and he assures me there’s nothing to worry about. Isn’t that right John?”
The camera then flashed to a person in a yellow hazmat suit and goggles giving two thumbs up, then to Shanahan chuckling in the audience.
— No excuse for at least two instances of celebrity presenters slaughtering the pronunciations of New England coach Mike Vrabel and Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. They knew the candidates in advance.
— Bravo for 49ers’ Roger Craig being named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and to former running back Frank Gore for so graciously supporting Craig while he was left out as a nominee on the first ballot.
— Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold spent the 2020 season with the New York Jets when Gore was at the end of the line and had this to say: “He’s one of those guys you can tell how comfortable he is in his own skin . . . he’s such a smart, smart guy, the way he talks about football. He does it all. Even at his age, when I was playing with him, I still felt like he had a ton of juice. That’s someone I’ll always remember playing with and sharing those memories with in the locker room.”
— Spent three days at the San Jose Convention Center at Seattle press conferences and came away impressed with how Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald handled it, even if the second letter of his last name is totally unnecessary. He preached being “loose and focused” and Seattle was giving off that vibe. Haven’t watched the Patriots play from beginning to end until the playoffs. First thought is Seahawks win going away, but that could be recency bias from watching them dismantle the 49ers.
— Place kicker Adam Vinatieri made the Hall of Fame and Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft did not. That should tell you everything you need to know in a process that puts players up against coaches and contributors. Expect more changes to the selection process.
— Shanahan didn’t get a single first-place vote for Coach of the Year, and I suspect there are fans and media more worked up about that than he is.
— If I were to nitpick “Rise of the 49ers” it would be short-changing the role of George Seifert as defensive coordinator and then head coach, and pretty much ignoring the epic second phase of the Cowboys rivalry.
— Any hopes the 49ers had about Rams’ quarterback Matthew Stafford hanging it up after edging New England’s Drake Maye for MVP evaporated when Stafford took the podium with his young daughters. Super Bowl 61 will be at the Rams’ home stadium.
“I can’t wait for you to cheer me on next year when we’re out there kicking ass,” Stafford said. “So I’ll see you guys next year — hopefully I’m not at this event and we’re getting ready for another game at SoFi.”
The Rams were 1-2 against Seattle but were outscored by just three points (88-85).
The 49ers will enter the 2026 season as the third-best team in the division when they return to the substation.