The San Francisco 49ers are on a mission to rebound from their February Super Bowl defeat, eyeing a return to the NFL title game and aiming to lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy at the season's end. What stands as their greatest hurdle in achieving this goal? Is it the Kansas City Chiefs, who claimed victory over them in the Super Bowl and will face them again in a Week 7 rematch? Or is it the challenge of overcoming adversity, such as injuries?
According to Bucky Brooks, it's actually something else entirely. The NFL analyst believes that the biggest challenge facing the 49ers this season will be refocusing after the heartbreak of their defeat.
"It's one of the biggest challenges that Kyle Shanahan will face in terms of getting this team ready to play because the natural inclination is you want to fast forward and get right back to the postseason to see if you can kind of make amends for the shortcomings of the previous year," Brooks recently said on NFL Network's "NFL Total Access" show. "But it doesn't work like that. They have to redo the entire process.
"They have to go through training camp and make sure that they're clicking on all cylinders when they hit the regular season. Then, when they go through the regular season, they've got to make sure that they are playing at a certain level when they get to each of those milestones to give themselves an opportunity to get into the postseason. And then, if you get into the postseason, you have to take care of business."
49ers fans already know who the team's first opponent will be during the upcoming season. San Francisco will kick off the regular season at home against the New York Jets on "Monday Night Football." The full schedule will be released tonight at 5 p.m. PT.
Despite being among the betting favorites to win Super Bowl 59 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, the journey there won't be easy.
"A lot of things have to go right for the San Francisco 49ers to make it right for what went wrong a season ago," Brooks continues. "And so the challenge for Kyle Shanahan is: Can I keep this team focused? Can I keep them engaged? Can I keep them locked in to play their best football when their best football is required while they're chalking up enough wins to give themselves a chance to get into the tournament?"
