Don't let anyone tell you that San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is looking past anything. He has repeatedly said that he knows how difficult it is to reach the Super Bowl. But make no mistake, his goal this season, and every season going forward, is to get there again and not let it slip through his fingertips.
"February and March, I wasn't in the best state," Shanahan told Chris Simms on the Chris Simms Unbuttoned podcast of the Super Bowl LIV loss. "I mean, no one died. I still have my health, I still have my family, but man, does it hurt when you know how close you were to something and how big of a deal that is, and how easily you could have done it."
Shanahan believes the defeat will only make him better. It drives him to want to get over that hump finally.
"Holy s--t, I want to get back there and get that done," he added. "And that's why I never let it go. I'll never let it go. But I can deal with it, I can live with it, and I can go do it again. I'm not scared to lose. I'll go do it again and give everything I have."
Shanahan has been meeting with his players virtually this offseason. He hasn't had an opportunity to meet with them face-to-face and go over February's heartbreaking Super Bowl defeat. Film from the game has come up during the virtual meetings, but nothing extensive. The coach is eager to go over it in greater detail and show his team how close it was to winning a championship.
"That was my plan in OTAs when I could get everyone together, to do something like that," Shanahan said. "I'm going to do something similar to that here when we get everyone back ... It is a new year, but you want to address it because you don't want guys to run from it at all. And you want them hungry over it, and see like, 'Guys, it's not rocket science. This is why we lost. This is why we could have won. It's these plays, alright?' There's never one play. There's a bunch. But it adds up.
"However you want the mood to be, you can dictate that. Guys will be like, 'Oh my God, we can easily do this again.' Or you can just crush guys and make them feel horrible. I don't want to do that. I want guys to see how easily we could have done it, and also remember how hard it was to get there because that's also what people don't realize."
Shanahan understands he still has a good team, capable of making another championship run. He knows his players have been working hard individually this offseason.
The problem is that the 49ers haven't had the opportunity to work as a team this offseason.
"So when our players get here, yeah, I'm going to show them some of the Super Bowl," Shanahan shared. "They know we have one goal — to get there. But they have to know we haven't done s--t yet, and we have to put in the work as a team."
George Kittle could play vs. Jets even if he doesn't practice, says 49ers' Kyle Shanahan
By David Bonilla
Sep 16, 2020
A San Francisco 49ers player rarely suits up for a game without practicing during the days leading up to that game. George Kittle is a rare tight end, though. Head coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed that Kittle wouldn't practice Wednesday or Thursday. The tight end may not practice until Friday, and even that is not a certainty.
That doesn't mean the New York Jets won't have to game plan for him, though.
"Kittle, he's battling," Shanahan told reporters before Wednesday's practice. "We thought it would be alright. He woke up the next day a little sore. He fully expects to be there Sunday, like he always does. Just like he always plays through the game when it happens."
Kittle suffered a knee sprain on a hit from safety Budda Baker during Sunday's loss to
Kyle Shanahan says Jimmy Garoppolo, offense have to play better after 49ers' loss to Cardinals
By Kirk Larrabee
Sep 13, 2020
There's plenty of blame to go around for the 49ers' 24-20 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, but one place the team will need to find some answers in a hurry is on offense, particularly in the passing game.
On the surface, the numbers the 49ers put up through the air on Sunday don't look too bad, with starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo finishing with 259 yards, two touchdowns, zero interceptions, and a 103.0 rating on 19 of 33 passing. But on Sunday there were certainly some inconsistencies in Garoppolo's game, which showed up on third and fourth downs in particular.
The 49ers converted just two of 11 third-down opportunities on Sunday, while also falling short on each of their two chances on fourth down. One of Garoppolo's touchdown passes came on a
49ers eager to get back to work after loss to Cardinals, says Mike McGlinchey
By David Bonilla
Sep 16, 2020
The San Francisco 49ers entered the offseason motivated by February's Super Bowl defeat. Maybe that wasn't enough because the team gained some extra motivation the hard way on Sunday after the Arizona Cardinals pulled off the upset 24-20 win at Levi's Stadium.
The loss forces San Francisco to play catchup with the rest of the division. It is the only NFC West squad that suffered a defeat during Week 1.
The 49ers are back to work this week and beginning preparations for their two-game road trip to the East Coast, where they will face the New York Jets and New York Giants at MetLife Stadium in back-to-back weekends.
The team's focus remains on the opponent
