It was a hectic Super Bowl week for the San Francisco 49ers, who watched the hated Seattle Seahawks lift the trophy Sunday and light cigars in the Niners’ locker room afterward.
Players made numerous radio appearances, with linebacker Fred Warner guaranteeing a Super Bowl win next season. Then, on Sunday, coach Kyle Shanahan and Warner put on suits and joined the NBC pregame show as analysts.
Warner’s guarantee came in one of his dozen podcast appearances, this one on “Pardon My Take.”
“We are going to win the next one,” he said. “It’s only a matter of time, and the next one, we’re definitely winning it. I guarantee. Next year.”
That had to excite halftime entertainer Bad Bunny, who told reporters afterward that he is a 49ers fan. You could make an argument that the 49ers were the third-best team in the league, behind two other teams in their division, the Seahawks and the Los Angeles Rams. The 49ers were 12-5 in the regular season and won a playoff game despite Warner, Nick Bosa, Brock Purdy, George Kittle, Ricky Pearsall and Mykel Williams all missing at least six games.
They’re going to have to figure out how to run the ball against the Seahawks. The 49ers lost 41-6 to Seattle in the second round of the playoffs — with only Purdy and Pearsall from that above list — because they couldn’t get the Seahawks out of their two-deep-safeties looks. And Shanahan correctly predicted Sunday that the Patriots had little chance, for similar reasons.
Shanahan also had to bring up some “dark Super Bowl memories” when asked about the 49ers’ losses to the Kansas City Chiefs to end the 2019 and 2023 seasons. He said he didn’t watch the film of those games until just before the following season,
“I put it away completely because it didn’t go well, and it is so personal,” Shanahan said on the broadcast. “But I always watch it the day before (the players) get back. I put it off as long as I can, but the day before (they) enter the building, I gotta be on top of it. I gotta know what happened, and I gotta know how to address (them) and I gotta know how to prepare going forward.”
Shanahan also lost the big game as a coordinator with the Atlanta Falcons. He figures he is due for a Super Bowl win. Or three.
“I’ve been able to be in nine of these (Super Bowls), six of them with my dad, (and) I went to three on my own,” he said. “I just look at it as he got blown out in his first three, and then he won his next three.
“I’ve got my three losses out of the way, and when we get Fred back healthy, I got three wins in front of me.”
Besides getting players back healthy, the 49ers need an injection of speed on offense, a big guard, some pass-rush help and a playmaker in the secondary. And maybe they bring back a familiar face.
That’s what Kittle was hinting at when he gave “SI Now” a message for 49ers fans.
“Hey, if a rebuild year got us 13 wins and a win in the wild card, that’s pretty good,” Kittle said. “It’s only going to get a little better than that, and all the boys are coming back again. And who knows, we might have some past friends.”
Kittle was asked who he was talking about.
“I don’t know,” Kittle said. “I hung out with Deebo (Samuel) last night. That was fun. … I love Deebo.”
Samuel left the 49ers in a trade to Washington last March. He is a free agent after posting 72 catches for 727 yards and five touchdowns for the Commanders.
If Kittle was being coy, he might have instead been referring to former 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who could be cut by the Denver Broncos in a salary-saving move after appearing in only eight games. Greenlaw, 28, played his first six seasons with the 49ers.
Speaking of former teammates, running back Christian McCaffrey was thrilled for Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, with whom McCaffrey played on both the Carolina Panthers and 49ers.
“Talk about resiliency,” McCaffrey said Saturday at an appearance for eBay. “High character. Somebody that never made excuses. He just showed up. Huge inspiration to me as somebody who went through so much that — I’ll say it — that wasn’t his fault. For him to continue to trust his process and understand who he can become, it’s just cool to see him get his flowers.”
McCaffrey, who finished the season with 2,126 scrimmage yards, won Comeback Player of the Year honors and was runner-up for Offensive Player of the Year at the NFL Honors show Thursday. Then, on Saturday night, he filled in on keyboard for Zach Bryan’s band at the Madden Bowl party.
Earlier in the week, he was asked his thoughts on playing a game in Australia, as the Niners will do against the Rams next season.
“Australia is pretty far,” McCaffrey said after playing in the Pro Bowl Games on Tuesday. “I’d love to see how the schedule would work. Transparently, that might be a little too far.”
The 15-hour flight became official the next day, and though the date has not been announced yet, the game is expected to be in Week 1. (The 49ers are also expected to host a game in Mexico in December.)
Warner and Rams receiver Puka Nacua joked about playing a divisional game on the other side of the world on Warner’s podcast, “Real Ones.”
“We’re an hour away from each other. Why are we getting sent there?” Nacua asked.
Warner then reminded him that it was a Rams home game, while the 49ers still hold onto theirs against the Rams in Santa Clara.
“Honestly, at SoFi, there’s not too many home games,” Nakua said.
Warner shook his head in agreement.
“Honestly, that’s a blow to us,” he said. “Let’s be real.”