{"id":90497,"date":"2025-05-30T11:33:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T11:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/90497\/"},"modified":"2025-05-30T11:33:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T11:33:14","slug":"chiefs-never-make-super-bowl-excuses-a-lesson-the-49ers-must-learn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/90497\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs never make Super Bowl excuses \u2013 a lesson the 49ers must learn"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s patently fair to think that both the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> and San Francisco 49ers<\/a> will be among the leading contenders to win Super Bowl 60 at the end of the 2025 NFL season. Both teams have star-studded rosters. They\u2019ve combined for 11 appearances in conference title games over the past seven seasons \u2013 K.C. qualifying each of those years \u2013 a period when no other club has made it that far more than twice. And, of course, the Chiefs and Niners have met on two of the past six Super Sundays.<\/p>\n

Yet Thursday seemed to illustrate a \u2013 maybe the \u2013 major difference between these proud franchises and might even be the reason that Kansas City beat San Francisco in those Super Bowls while winning another and appearing in five overall since the start of the 2019 campaign.<\/p>\n

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Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes,<\/a> a three-time Super Bowl MVP, was asked about the challenge of resetting and resuming the relentless football grind after a Super Bowl defeat \u2013 February\u2019s blowout loss<\/a> to the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> preventing Kansas City from becoming the first team to capture three successive Lombardi Trophies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I focus every year, because I know how special of a run that we\u2019re on and how many years left I\u2019ll have with all these great players and a great team,\u201d said Mahomes. \u201cAnd every team is different and you don\u2019t want to miss an opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you lose a Super Bowl, I think there\u2019s sometimes in those workouts \u2013 you might be a little tired \u2013 (but) you have that extra, added motivation to finish even harder or finish even stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

NFL POWER RANKINGS: Where teams stand post-draft<\/a><\/p>\n

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It was the latest insight into the mindset of Mahomes and his dynasty \u2013 and both might have a case as the greatest in league history by the time their runs conclude \u2013 especially in the face of their rare setbacks. And let\u2019s not forget, the 2024 Chiefs somehow won a franchise record 15 regular-season games and, then, the conference \u2013 even though they couldn\u2019t protect Mahomes (sacked a career-high 36 times), couldn\u2019t consistently run the ball and lost No. 1 wideout Rashee Rice to a season-ending knee injury in Week 4.<\/p>\n

Compare that to the 2024 49ers, who followed up their overtime loss to Kansas City in Super Bowl 58 with a 6-11 campaign \u2013 their worst since 2018, when the team was forced to use three starting quarterbacks. And, yes, last season\u2019s Niners were stripped of several key players \u2013 Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk, Dre Greenlaw, Javon Hargrave \u2013 due to injuries for most of the year.<\/p>\n

Yet coach Kyle Shanahan, who previously signaled his most recent outfit was out of sorts from training camp on, admitted Thursday, \u201cI felt guys weren’t ready to come back. And I understood that. But I told them how I won’t really understand it this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dreaded Super Bowl hangover, emotional debilitation or whatever you want to call it felt like the latest excuse for an organization that\u2019s had several as its championship drought now extends beyond three decades.<\/p>\n

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There was former quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo\u2019s fourth-quarter overthrow of wide open Emmanuel Sanders in Super Bowl 54, a game the 49ers probably win if the connection is made. There was safety Jaquiski Tartt\u2019s dropped interception in the fourth quarter of the 2021 NFC championship game \u2013 and if he hangs on, San Francisco (not the Los Angeles Rams) almost surely reaches Super Bowl 56. Then there was the late defensive collapse and Shanahan\u2019s controversial decision to receive the opening kickoff of overtime in Super Bowl 58 \u2013 which actually might have been the right call regardless<\/a> \u2013 which Kansas City ultimately claimed 25-22 on a game-ending touchdown.<\/p>\n

The Niners have also been occasionally sideswiped by major injuries in recent seasons and always seem to be in the midst of significant contractual issues every summer \u2013 though that shouldn\u2019t be the case in 2025, especially now that Brock Purdy is no longer on the quarterbacking version of welfare.<\/p>\n

Still, funny how that stuff never seems to affect the Chiefs, who will reach the league\u2019s version of the final four no matter what roadblocks are thrown in front of them. Coach Andy Reid attributes much of it to his veteran leaders, players like Mahomes who don\u2019t skate during or skip out on the team\u2019s offseason program.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the good leaders have been here,\u201d Reid said. \u201cIt\u2019s good to have them there. When they\u2019re there, it\u2019s a certain energy that comes with it. Expectations from all the \u2026 new guys \u2013 free agent type or the college kids \u2013 and they set a tempo with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, Shanahan\u2019s just glad to have perfect attendance for a change after so many years of having the spring and summer sidetracked in some capacity by financial standoffs between players and the front office.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought the coolest thing was everyone being there on the first day,\u201d Shanahan said in reference to the start of this year\u2019s offseason program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had every guy show up and I didn’t have to call anyone and beg them, which said a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sure does, even if Shanahan intended it as a compliment to his current crew after several expensive veterans were purged in recent months as the team cleared room for Purdy\u2019s five-year, $265 million extension.<\/p>\n

\"Oct<\/p>\n

Oct 20, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) meets with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) after the game at Levi’s Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Tight end George Kittle, who was extended along with Purdy and linebacker Fred Warner, says having the business side of football resolved should help on the field.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m glad they decided to do that,\u201d said the six-time Pro Bowler. \u201cThat\u2019s awesome for us because now we have everybody in the building that\u2019s just focused on playing football and focusing on just getting a little bit better every single day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good for football because now all we\u2019re focused on is football.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Francisco\u2019s stars paid, the team drawing the league\u2019s easiest schedule<\/a> (the Niners\u2019 2025 opponents had a collective winning percentage of .415 last season), McCaffrey apparently back to 100% and after an atypically long offseason to rest and recover, Shanahan knows this year\u2019s squad has little to rationalize.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe year before last year coming off the \u201823 season was one of the shorter breaks that we\u2019ve had, having that tough loss in the Super Bowl and coming back really just like six weeks later,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt’s never fun to have January off, but those extra five weeks add up a lot, and I think guys were itching to get back this time, excited to get back, ready to go for the first day, and it’s been a lot more fun that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the Chiefs, saddled with another tough first-place schedule full of prime-time games plus a Week 1 pilgrimage to Brazil, they\u2019ll turn the adversity of an embarrassing Super Bowl showing into their own fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019ll be good for us at the end of the day,\u201d said Mahomes. \u201cI mean, obviously looking back you want to win the game, but a lot of those (younger teammates) hadn\u2019t lost one \u2013 hadn\u2019t ended a season on a loss that are on this team now. So I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll be motivated to go back out there and try to find a way to get to the Super Bowl and win it this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lesson the current 49ers have yet to learn and a goal they have yet to reach.<\/p>\n

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 49ers should learn from Chiefs and stop making Super Bowl excuses<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s patently fair to think that both the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers will be among…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[6507,220,5305,2644,4124,1160,24305,7,592,6066,24306,1824,7841,118,110,2812,58,6,499,109,4000,1161,252,2624,2623,505,495,24304],"class_list":{"0":"post-90497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-2025-nfl-season","9":"tag-49ers","10":"tag-brandon-aiyuk","11":"tag-brock-purdy","12":"tag-christian-mccaffrey","13":"tag-dre-greenlaw","14":"tag-emmanuel-sanders","15":"tag-football","16":"tag-fred-warner","17":"tag-george-kittle","18":"tag-jaquiski-tartt","19":"tag-javon-hargrave","20":"tag-jimmy-garoppolo","21":"tag-kansas-city","22":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","23":"tag-kyle-shanahan","24":"tag-los-angeles-rams","25":"tag-nfl","26":"tag-patrick-mahomes","27":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","28":"tag-rashee-rice","29":"tag-san-francisco","30":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","31":"tag-sanfrancisco","32":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers","33":"tag-super-bowl","34":"tag-super-bowl-mvp","35":"tag-super-sundays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114596571046582230","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90497","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=90497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}