San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has avoided labeling Sunday's Super Bowl LVIII rematch against the Kansas City Chiefs as a must-win. Last week, after losing three of four games, Shanahan came close to using that phrase ahead of the matchup with the Seattle Seahawks, but he refrained from calling it a "must-win."
"I never want to say the words 'must-win' until [a situation where] if we don't win, we're eliminated from the playoffs," Shanahan said this week. "That's the only time it's a true must-win. But my words were, last week, 'I'll never say it's a must-win until it's that situation, but it damn sure feels like one.'"
On Sunday's game against the Chiefs, he remarked, "I see this game like I see all games. Every game matters huge, but I didn't choose those words this week."
However, FS1 analyst Emmanuel Acho strongly disagrees, arguing that Sunday's game is indeed a must-win for the 49ers. He believes that a loss to the Chiefs would send a worrying message for the rest of the season.
During a recent segment on "The Facility," Acho noted that the Chiefs have beaten the 49ers in three key games, dating back to the 2019 season. In Super Bowl LIV, the Chiefs scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to erase the 49ers' lead, while in 2022, Kansas City delivered a blowout victory over San Francisco in Christian McCaffrey's debut.
Most recently, the 49ers lost to the Chiefs in February's overtime showdown in Super Bowl LVIII.
"I don't care how it looks," Acho declared. "If the Chiefs beat the Niners again, and you all know it's bang, bang, through and through for your boy. I do Niners radio just because I like the Niners that much. I work overtime for the Niners. If the Chiefs beat the Niners again, how can I come on television and actually say, 'Oh, the Niners got a shot'? That would be lying to you, lying to you, you, you, and lying to me.
"The Niners have to win. If you lose close, if you lose ugly, if you lose pretty, you still lose. Niners gotta win."
"The Niners have to win. If you lose close, ugly or pretty, you still lose."
— @EmmanuelAcho pic.twitter.com/ivGv0TErmk
— The Facility (@TheFacilityFS1) October 17, 2024
Acho isn't the only one with this perspective. Former NFL cornerback Patrick Peterson, now a podcast analyst for Audacy, echoed the sentiment, emphasizing why Sunday's game is critical for the 49ers.
"This is a must-win for the 49ers, in my opinion," Peterson said Thursday morning on Bay Area radio station 95.7 The Game. "And if I'm in that locker room, that's how I'm feeling because we lost to these guys two times in the biggest games of the season. And now, we have an opportunity to play them in our backyard. You don't know when you have opportunity to play the team that you lost [to] in the Super Bowl because we're in different conferences.
"But yes, this is a huge game. The 49ers are now starting to get into their groove. We all know how they like to start the seasons over the past years, which has been kind of slow. And probably midway through the second quarter of the season, that's when the guys and Kyle Shanahan get the team rolling with the confidence and playing with the aspiration that everybody was hoping that they start the season with."
While Peterson acknowledges that a loss wouldn't necessarily derail the 49ers' season, he suggests that a win on Sunday could provide a significant mental boost and help build momentum toward another championship run.
"So this is definitely a must-win for the 49ers," Peterson concluded.
While avoiding the label of a "must-win," linebacker Fred Warner emphasized the importance of securing another victory in Week 7.
"I think it's an important game for us, one, because of where we're at in the season," Warner shared during a radio interview this week. "We haven't had the start that we would have wanted, but we got that win on Thursday night and put ourselves in position to do everything we want to do going forward. And we've got to prove to ourselves that we can win against great football teams in this league.
"The Chiefs are undefeated this year and still at the top of their game, and ... they've still got 15 (QB Patrick Mahomes) back there, and I have yet to beat them. I think I played against them maybe four times now and have yet to beat them. So I think it's an important game for us to try to get over that hump and get this win."
