The 49ers ‘fought to the bitter end’ and have the talent to make another Super Bowl run
Jimmy Garoppolo and the San Francisco 49ers had one last chance for magic.
One last chance to right the miscues that occurred during the five minutes prior.
One last chance to close out a spectacular season with the greatest feeling this team could possibly imagine.
One drive, 85 yards with two minutes and 39 seconds left on the clock separated Garoppolo’s 49ers from winning Super Bowl 54.
It wasn’t meant to be.
San Francisco turned the ball over on downs after seven plays. Garoppolo threw three incompletions and was sacked to close out the drive. The Kansas City Chiefs tacked on an insurance touchdown 13 seconds later to seal a 31-20 victory at Hard Rock Stadium.
Anguish. Heartache.
The storybook season didn’t get its happily-ever-after ending.
“Those are the moments you dream of and everything,” Garoppolo said. “We got rolling on a right note and just couldn’t finish it off. It is tough, but it has been a hell of a year with these guys. Everything we have been through from the very start, it is an incredible story.”
Remember, this was a 49ers team that went 4-12 last season and was coming off four consecutive losing seasons, a combined 17-47 in that span.
But in Year 3 under coach Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers strung together a season to remember.
A 13-3 record in the regular season. NFC West champions. One of the top defenses in the league.
All with a roster whose players’ average age was less than 27.
“Guys fought all season,” cornerback Richard Sherman said. “Fought to the bitter end.”
And the team has a lot of up-and-coming talent returning.
Like Deebo Samuel, who flourished in his rookie season after being drafted in the second round out of South Carolina. The wide receiver finished fourth in the league among first-year players with 802 receiving yards in the regular season. On Sunday, he set a Super Bowl record with 53 rushing yards, the most by a receiver in the NFL’s championship game. Samuel also caught a team-high five passes for 39 yards.
Like Nick Bosa, the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year who quickly became one of the top edge rushers in the league this year. The No. 2 overall pick put pressure on Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes early and often on Sunday, finishing the game with five tackles, a strip sack and a pass deflection. Fellow defensive linemen DeForest Buckner, Dee Ford and Solomon Thomas are also still under contract for next season.
Like Sherman, the three-time All-Pro cornerback who still has one more year on his three-year, $27.15 million deal and should once again anchor the 49ers’ secondary.
Like tight end George Kittle, who finished third in the league this season among tight ends with 1,053 receiving yards on 85 catches. Kittle, 26, is entering the final year of his rookie contract.
“Losing sucks,” Kittle said. “Losing on the biggest stage is not fun. A lot of emotions, not a lot of fun ones. But ultimately, your goal is to win the Super Bowl, so I’ll do whatever I can to come back.”
And like Garoppolo, who led four fourth-quarter comebacks during the regular season even though he couldn’t muster one final drive on Sunday. The former New England Patriots backup completed 69.1 percent of his passes for 3,978 yards and 27 touchdowns against 13 interceptions in his first full NFL regular-season as a starting quarterback.
He completed 20 of 31 passes on Sunday for 219 yards and a touchdown but also had two interceptions.
“You could see it in guys’ eyes in there,” Garoppolo said. “It means something to guys. That means you’ve got guys that care about what they’re doing, guys who care about each other. We’re a young team and we’ve got a very bright future. We’ve got to take this in stride and remember this feeling.”
They have just more than seven months to lament an opportunity lost before getting another chance at a Super Bowl title in the 2020 season.
“We’ll lick our wounds, and we’ll get over it,” Shanahan said. “We’ll be fired up for next year.”
This story was originally published February 3, 2020 at 11:19 AM.
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