SANTA CLARA — The red, gold, and white confetti has been cleaned off the Levi’s Stadium grass and the 49ers are forging ahead with a clean slate toward Super Bowl LVII.
Thursday marked the 49ers’ first practice since winning a spot in Super Bowl LVIII, four days after a dramatic comeback in the NFC Championship four days earlier. Here is what coach Kyle Shanahan and select players said at the media podium before practice:
COACH KYLE SHANAHAN
On current injuries:
Tight end George Kittle (toe) will not practice. Cornerback Ambry Thomas (ankle) will be limited. Linebacker Oren Burks (shoulder) will be limited.
On George Kittle’s toe injury and if it’s a serious turf-toe injury:
It’s just a toe.
On 2019 experiences and shaping them:
All those guys for the most part were young guys and it was the first one. When you go a second time, all the stuff you experienced, you know it’s all about one thing: those three hours (of the game). … Having experience always helps.
On Charvarius Ward’s growth from KC:
We ask him to do a little more in terms of coverage, different things. We mix it up a little. We saw him do things here than before and his game has grown.
On matchup with Chiefs:
It’s not a coincidence why they have (won). QB is as hard to beat as anyone from a talent standpoint, then you combine that with the scheme Andy runs. No matter what game it is, high scoring or low scoring, they always have a chance. When you have that, great coach, great defense, it’s a very good formula to win games.
On picking guys to break down the team:
“I randomly did it with Nick some Saturday, did a good job and we won. … Since then it’s become our tradition. Nick’s become really good at it. It’s funny how guys are so confident in everything they do get nervous speaking in front of people. Earlier this year, he said thanks for doing that, he’s not as nervous. Nick doesn’t waste words, because he doesn’t use many of them.
The only time you get to know someone is when you hang with them. I sat with him at dinner. What was so cool, there was no tricking. Nick was himself. He’s very true to himself and doesn’t make stuff up. He was very easy to connect to. He’s always been that guy we met on the first day. I can’t say enough good things about him.”
On defensive line’s poor pursuit of Gibbs’ TD:
No not at all. I know it looked bad on the clip. No it’s not our culture. Don’t want one play like that. We had two to three that game. It wasn’t just the D-line. Other people expected others to make the tackle. You can’t do that.
On rest:
There were a few bad clips that game and can find in a lot of games. I don’t question our lack of effort. Were we under 100 percent….I’m not sitting here acting that was the reason..that game was more how we played run defense – not all 11 guys running to the ball.
On Jed York entering 2019:
He was awesome, exactly how he was when we sat for the interview. You never want those (bad) records but we were realistic. We wanted to have a legit shot our fourth year. Third year it happened and it was great. … He was always positive. The hardest year was the COVID year (2020) because we built our team and had a tough Super Bowl loss. That wasn’t like we expected.
On whether he’s on the hot seat:
We never had the discussion. But as a coach you’re always on the hot seat. There was no difference in our relationship going into Year 3 compared to the year I was hired.
On 49ers run game:
It’s hard to win consistently if you can’t run the ball, no matter how good of a pass game or a defense you have. Best way to win is be balanced and put pressure on everybody.
On learning from the last Super Bowl in terms of practice:
I was real happy with our preparation last time. I’d been to the Super Bowl as a coach four years before that. Been to six as a family member. Growing up and watching it my whole life. I’m glad the Super Bowl we’re in has a week before you go (to the host city). We try to get as much in this first week. Monday is different with the media deal, then we do a press conference every day so you’re an hour behind. All that stuff adds up.
On offense change with McCaffrey from his 49ers debut to now:
He knows the guys’ names, knows the runs we’re calling instead of guys pointing him in the right direction. That was amazing. The way he was talking to me, I said we better send him a playbook because he was adamant he was playing. It was a sign what we had.
* * *
NICK BOSA
On growth from 2019 to now:
You definitely learn a lot going through the long season in 19 and you don’t understand it as much as a rookie how hard it is to get there, how hard you have to be locked in for four quarters to win. I’ve learned that. I’ll relay to guys has to be a different level of effort and intensity of every single snap you’ve been in there.
On 2019 replay:
I’ve watched it. You start sweating a little bit. But it’s fun to watch. It’s a Super Bowl defense right there and we have to take a page out of that if we want to win.
On his hold on third-and-15 in Super Bowl LIV:
I don’t think they had a back view. But yeah, I’m sure, against Eric Fisher.
On this defense’s intensity compared to 2019:
We are, just not as consistently as we need to be.
On the Chiefs’ running game:
Their running back runs really hard and then all the other threats Mahomes has opens it up. They have a really good o-line and Pacheco has revamped their run game.
On holding guys accountable in D-line room:
Kris starts there, Tapp, and me and Arik. We try to create a standard over there that effort is what we do best. We definitely need to do that.
How to defend Mahomes:
Whoo. Keep him in the pocket the best you can is the big thing, because he loves to improvise. Then full-on effort. Kyle called it: Defensive-line stamina is the key to the game.
On defenders overrunning plays:
It’s human nature to slow down or maybe comes out of your vision and think three guys are there. It’s a mindset of going and going and going, and that’s what we need to do.
On Super Bowl arrangements:
I don’t deal with that. My mother does.
On Andy Reid:
He’s a great game planner. I’m sure he’ll have wrinkles for us. Hopefully we can anticipate some and make plays when we need to.
On Charvarius Ward:
Don’t know if his game has changed. Played at a high level since he got here. He’s a valuable piece and a Super Bowl winner.
On emotions of facing Chiefs, QB, coach, color:
It’s definitely going to bring some emotions I’m going to try to hold back until we get close. We still have a long time so you don’t want to burn out. It’s going to be an intense day.
On what stands out against the Chiefs:
They hold a lot.
On intensity:
It starts today. Having two weeks is really good because you can engrain things in your mind game-plan wise this week, then pile on repetitions next week. It’s having the mindset and knowing if I’m going to give everything I’ve got, I need to get out of the game and the next guy has to be fresh.
On Chiefs’ style of offense compared to 2019:
I don’t know if I’ve watched it in sequence. Watrched that game, and a playoff game, but I don’t know exactly how they’ve changed.
On facing them in 2022:
Definitely some things I need to be ready for because they were game-planning for me that game. I have to be ready for things Andy Reid will do. It’s about playing four quarters. Some of the cuts and the chips.
On speaking to the team:
I don’t remember the first time, which is surprising but I usually remember traumatic experiences. It’s been good for me. I’ve enjoyed dealing with the stress and facing something I’m not used to.
***
FRED WARNER
On playing in Super Bowl LIV:
I look back at that moment and can truly say I was in the moment and took it really seriously, even though I was young
When you’re young and naïve, so early in your career, this is what it’s like and you go to the Super Bowl every year. That’s not the case. We’ve been so close and have another opportunity. You have to sell out for three hours and give it your best.
On the defense:
Not good enough at all. We’ve relied heavily on winning games on defense, holding teams to minimal points, suffocating teams on playing how we go. that’s because of a bunch of different reasons. We have the opportunity to right that.
To say we have a great opportunity to correct that and have our best in the Super Bowl, we can do that.
On what has gone wrong:
On any given play when were not executing, it’s one guy out of a gap, not giving great effort as a whole. When you’re playing violent and fast, that cleans a lot up. It’s execution from a standard standpoint, we have to get back to that.
On playing in a Super Bowl and learning from it:
You have to play a full 60 minutes. To say we’re up by 10 late in a game and I’m thinking we’re about to win, that thing switched pretty quick, and it scarred me for life. Now I never get excited until the clock hits zero. They have a pretty special guy back there throwing the football and we have to do a good job stuffing him.
On emotions vs. Chiefs:
I’m sure that’ll get built up all week—the rematch. It’s two completely different teams with new faces on both sides of the ball. This is a different offense than when we played them. We have to prepare the right way and get ready to go Sunday.
On Kelce:
They obviously have as great a bond as any 1-2 punch in the NFL from a quarterback to a skill position, maybe in history. Pat knows where he’ll be on any given play. Travis knows it’s not always about the playbook. They can have a feel on the field.
On the offensive production allowed to the Lions:
I didn’t want to look at a stat sheet. That would have compounded on top of the feelings already there. I already knew it was a bad first half and we had to change it .
On adversity of the past two games:
On defense, this is an opportunity in my eyes to correct the wrongs we had. Even though we played the way we did, and the offense we have, it says everything about the team we have. If we play defense the way we’re capable of doing, I know we have a great chance to win,
On loafing on defense:
The thing more meaningful than getting on specific guys, it’s showing consistency. I can look at plays past game I wasn’t giving 100 percent effort, so who am I to talk down. I have to look in the mirror first.
On Trent Williams’ lockers:
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We just walk by and this is Trent’s little mall he jas right here. He’s already got a gold jacket to his name so he can do what he wants and guys won’t say anything about it.
On Charvarius Ward:
Helpful to have a Super Bowl champ on his side, a guy who’s a Pro Bowler and been on our side the whole year.
On Mahomes:
We have to continue to search for and find out through the tape. He’s one of the greatest and he’s going to have his plays. We need to do as much as we can to make them as few as possible.
On Steve Wilks:
Coming to the sideline, it’s not about the energy, it’s about looking each other in the eye in crucial situations and ‘What do you want to call here?’
On if he got an NFC ring in 2019:
I don’t know where that ring is. I remember we got one, thinking, ‘Oh, this is cute.’
We can all sense how much this means. He talks to the team before we got out to the game. It means a lot to him, at this point, in year 14 having done everything, you want to do something that cements your legacy. Doing the Super Bowl means everything.
