{"id":689386,"date":"2026-01-19T19:28:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T19:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/689386\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T19:28:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T19:28:39","slug":"why-the-49ers-must-go-all-in-on-a-super-bowl-push-next-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/689386\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the 49ers must go all in on a Super Bowl push next season"},"content":{"rendered":"

This column is an excerpt from our Section 415 newsletter, where we cover the biggest stories in Bay Area sports each Monday and Friday. To sign up, visit The Standard\u2019s\u00a0newsletter page<\/a>\u00a0and select Section 415. It\u2019s free to subscribe!<\/p>\n

If the 49ers\u2019 dreams of playing in the Super Bowl in their home stadium had to be dashed, it\u2019s probably best that their season ended with a blowout loss.<\/p>\n

A tight margin against the Seattle Seahawks could have convinced Jed York, John Lynch, and Kyle Shanahan that the 49ers will be close to competing atop the division and the conference next season. A narrow defeat might have suggested that healthy stars and a solid draft class would even make San Francisco the team to beat. But a 35-point embarrassment is proof that the road ahead is filled with potholes that could send the 49ers swerving off their desired track.<\/p>\n

The Seahawks are fantastic, and they aren\u2019t going anywhere. The Rams might be just as good, and Los Angeles will take its crack at Seattle in the NFC Championship Game. The 49ers won 12 regular-season games and pulled off a playoff stunner in Philadelphia<\/a>, but their path back to the late rounds of the playoffs isn\u2019t quite as clear.<\/p>\n

If Brock Purdy continues improving and the 49ers can get Fred Warner, Nick Bosa, George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, and Trent Williams all on the field in the postseason, they can compete with anyone. But the odds of every star, or even most of them, being healthy enough to play deep into January decrease every season.<\/p>\n

2 days ago<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

5 days ago<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Monday, Jan. 12<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

McCaffrey and Warner both turn 30 this year. Bosa has missed the majority of two seasons with ACL tears, Kittle is in the early stages of rehabbing from a devastating Achilles injury, and Williams, who will be 38 in July, is headed into his 16th NFL season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s why the 49ers should view the 2026 season as the year to go all in. After slashing some salary commitments last offseason, San Francisco should aggressively pursue upgrades, particularly along the defensive line and at wide receiver.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is the spring to move up in the draft, to sign premium free agents, and to part with future assets in trades that address current needs. The competition within the NFC West is fierce, but outside of Purdy, nearly every 49ers superstar is in the late stages of their career, and the organization can\u2019t miss this window.<\/p>\n

There will come a time when these stars are no longer playing at All-Pro caliber levels, and when that moment arrives, the 49ers will have to completely change how they operate. They won\u2019t be able to replicate McCaffrey\u2019s abilities as a rushing and receiving threat, and they won\u2019t find a stand-in for Warner who can play the run and the pass as well as he does.<\/p>\n

The ugly loss in Seattle should set alarms off in Santa Clara. The offseason is just beginning, but it\u2019s already time to wake up and get to work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This column is an excerpt from our Section 415 newsletter, where we cover the biggest stories in Bay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,2644,7,2812,6,1161,252,2624,2623,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-689386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-brock-purdy","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-kyle-shanahan","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-san-francisco","14":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","15":"tag-sanfrancisco","16":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115923421624142383","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}