It's difficult enough to get back to the Super Bowl after winning the big game. It's even more challenging to do so after losing. The second-place team can often suffer a Super Bowl hangover and take a step back during the next season.
General manager John Lynch doesn't expect that to happen to his San Francisco 49ers. The team is gearing up for another run and hopes, this time, to end things by hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy. That begins at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis this week.
Lynch believes the Super Bowl LIV loss to the Kansas City Chiefs will only further motivate his squad.
"We came close this year, but I think that's going to serve us well going forward," Lynch told Daniel Jeremiah and Rich Eisen on Friday during NFL Network's broadcast of the NFL Scouting Combine. "It's hard; the numbers say so, history says so. It's hard to get back, and then it's really hard to get back and win. But I do think we're a little different."
The 49ers are equipped with fewer draft picks this year, thanks to trades in 2019 to acquire pass rusher Dee Ford and wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders. San Francisco owns just six selections, won't make its first pick until No. 31 overall, and doesn't currently own a Day 2 selection.
That just means Lynch and the 49ers have to be more creative this offseason if they expect to improve.
"I love our team. I'm proud of our team," Lynch continued. "We didn't finish, and that's disappointing because I think we were built to finish. But (head coach) Andy (Reid) and (general manager) Brett (Veach), Pat (Mahomes), all those guys with the Chiefs, they had something to do with that, as well."
Head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked this week how he goes about preparing his team to overcome a potential Super Bowl hangover and drop-off in 2020.
"Just deal with it," Shanahan responded. "Anytime you have a tough loss, I think there's a grieving process you've got to go through. I think everyone goes through that individually. I mean, it is disappointing, especially how much you put on the line for that, but that's life.
"You can deal with it, no one died. It is disappointing. We do have to grieve, but I'm doing a lot better now than I was three weeks ago, and I plan on doing better three weeks from now than I am right now."
