The San Francisco 49ers finished last season by winning their final five games and ending with a 6-10 record. San Francisco hopes to carry that momentum into the 2018 season.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan stepped up to the podium at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Thursday morning and discussed the team's ability to overcome adversity in 2017.
"I think every team can take a big leap forward," Shanahan told reporters. "It's always nice to end the year on a positive stretch. I said this to a number of people: I learned the way to get people to feel good about 6-10 is to start 0-9. I'm glad we didn't do it the other way around. That would probably be a totally different feeling.
"But that still was our record. We've got a lot of work to do. I was very excited how we came together at the end. I think it made going through that at the beginning worth it. I think our team got closer through it. I think we got better through it, showed that we can overcome some adversity, and I hope that gives our guys more confidence going into next year knowing that a lot of those guys have been through it. They've done it before.
"But we've got to go back to work, and you start over when you get back, and we'll see how our team is this year."
Much of the finish can be attributed to the acquisition of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who started those final five games of the season. During that span, the 49ers became one of the most dangerous teams in the league, following up two road wins with three victories against playoff-bound teams.
Last season, Garoppolo completed 120 of his 178 pass attempts for 1,560 yards, seven touchdowns, five interceptions, a passer rating of 96.2, and a rushing touchdown during his five starts and six game appearances with the 49ers. On February 8, he signed an NFL-record five-year, $137.5 million deal to remain in San Francisco.