SAN FRANCISCO — Four years ago, as the game clock slowly ticked toward double zero, George Kittle stood on the sideline, helplessly watching his dream of becoming a Super Bowl champion disappear with the numbers on the clock. I did.
Kittle, one of the best tight ends in the NFL, was on the wrong side of the Chiefs’ 31-20 victory over the 49ers in Super Bowl IV, standing on the sideline and muttering to himself in frustration. .
Sometimes stress has such an effect on us that it makes us turn inward to talk to ourselves.
Sideline microphones picked up Kittle’s conversation, and it quickly spread.
“I’ll be back here again,” Kittle spat out like a poison dart. “I’ll be back here, and I’ll be back with a terrible vengeance. You won’t get the best of me. No.”
Well, Kittle stood by that vow.
Kittle was even more excited as he stood on the sideline as the clock expired Sunday evening at Levi’s Stadium, the 49ers’ 34-31 upset over the Lions in the NFC Championship Game. Victory was officially declared.
Kittle had just recovered the Lions’ desperate onside kick attempt to seal the game and send the 49ers to the Super Bowl again to face the Chiefs.
What a sweet story this could be if the 49ers Faithful team could pull this off — winning a record-tying sixth Super Bowl, and their first since the 1994 season, along the way. He will get his revenge on the Chiefs.
But revenge wasn’t on the 49ers’ minds Sunday. A mixture of despair and panic ensued as the Lions manhandled the 49ers in the first half, taking a 24-7 lead into the locker room and leaving the 49ers dazed and confused.
After the game, revenge wasn’t even on 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan’s mind. He’s had his fair share of Super Bowl heartbreaks himself.
(Remember, Atlanta beat the Patriots 28-3 before Tom Brady woke up his teammates and broke the Falcons’ will. He was criticized for his play calling, which was a factor in allowing the game.)
“I haven’t had much time to think about it,” Shanahan said Sunday night, about an hour after his team’s victory, when asked about playing the Chiefs again in the Super Bowl.
After all, Shanahan had been in survival mode for most of the previous three hours, not caring whether his team was playing the ’85 Chicago Bears or the Bad News Bears.
“I didn’t watch any of their games,” Shanahan said of the Chiefs’ win over the Ravens in the AFC Championship game. “I didn’t know who won until someone told me right before I left.” [to the field]”
But while Shanahan knows what he’s up against with the Chiefs, he also knows he has a better, more experienced team this time around. They have a better, more consistent, more reliable quarterback in Brock Purdy than Jimmy Garoppolo. He has Christian McCaffrey, the most dynamic and versatile running back in the sport. And he has better defense.
But, of course, the Chiefs still have Patrick Mahomes, who has turned the AFC Championship and Super Bowl weeks into a personal vacation timeshare since entering the league. And former Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo credits Kansas City’s defense with playing better than head coach and offensive genius Andy Reid, which is a frightening prospect. .
“We already have a pretty good idea of what it’s going to look like,” Shanahan said. “They’re a hell of a team. They’ve got a hell of a coach, a hell of a quarterback, a hell of a defense. They’ve been doing it for a while. I feel like I’ve been there every year since we met in ’19. We have worked hard to recapture this moment.”
The 49ers have returned to the NFC Championship twice since losing to Kansas City in the Super Bowl after the 2019 season, including last season when they lost both quarterbacks to injury in the title game against Philadelphia. , both lost.
They vow this time will be different. they hope so. Please believe that it will happen.
“Losing two more NFC Championship games is not very fun,” Kittle said. “It stings.”
Kittle then talked about all the questions players ask themselves after such a devastating loss. That’s the question Lions head coach Dan Campbell and his players are asking themselves now after losing in such brutal fashion.
“You just say, ‘What are we going to do differently this year?'” Kittle said. “You say, ‘How can I work harder?’ What’s going to happen to my mindset?’ There’s going to be a lot of questions.”
not now. Now it’s just the Chiefs. If they get through the Chiefs, there will be no more players like Kittle muttering to themselves on the sideline filled with disappointment.
