The San Francisco 49ers have been playing well this season with Super Bowl LVIII in sight. The 49ers are the No. 1 seed in the NFC and are set to take on the No. 7 Green Bay Packers in a divisional playoff game.
Last season, the 49ers found themselves competing in the NFC Championship against the Philadelphia Eagles. This year, San Francisco is hopeful they can repeat this scenario, but with a better outcome. The Eagles defeated San Francisco and took a trip to the Super Bowl while the 49ers stayed home.
With the Eagles now out of the playoff picture after being knocked out of the postseason by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Francisco needs three wins to reach their ultimate goal. That is to claim the NFL championship. San Francisco, the owners of five NFL titles, last won a Super Bowl when Steve Young and Jerry Rice blitzed the San Diego Chargers back in 1995. It’s been a long time coming.
San Francisco got bounced out of the playoffs after losing consecutive NFC title games in the last two years. The last time the 49ers made it to the Super Bowl, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs beat them in a comeback win in 2020.
This season feels like this is the Niners’ season.
The last time the team was this relevant was when controversy swirled around the franchise during the Colin Kaepernick saga and the quarterback’s righteous stand against police brutality. Kaepernick’s kneeling or sitting during the playing of the national anthem to bring attention to what he was protesting about only proved to be a distraction to a mediocre ballclub at the time.
It seemed that San Francisco, as a franchise, was so engulfed in Kaepernick’s quest for social justice that it overshadowed football matters as the team struggled from season to season. Things have vastly changed in the last couple of seasons.
After starting his career with promise in the last two seasons that Kaepernick played for the 49ers, San Francisco’s record was 5-16 with the activist under center. Better player personnel better coaching and improved structure now have San Francisco on the verge of greatness.
The franchise has had to rebuild in places such as the draft and free agency. The last two seasons have been proof of the team’s work towards rebuilding and getting back to the standard has had in the past, playing well enough to be in the Super Bowl conversation.
In the 1990s, the 49ers were able to win the Super Bowl multiple times with different players playing the quarterback position. Fans all over were excited to see the team be successful and are proud of their success. The team not only represented themselves, family, friends and the franchise but also the city and united fans all over.
Back then the 49ers played football with an intense defense and played football with a high-powered offense that excited fans. The defense was something to be proud of and the offense was so electric that each play was highly anticipated. The players played well and the coaching staff coached well enough to drive the team to success.
The 49ers have worked hard to reach the top of the NFC food chain again. It has been a very long time. Many seasons of disappointments and many seasons that to some just were not good enough. The team for many years had fans disinterested and the team played still.
There are always those loyal groups that stay dedicated to the cause despite the differences in opinions of the program and the different ideas of how the franchise should operate.
Many folks tend to converse about this and that and are not sure which way to dial the phone. Often we worry over the small things hopeful for something greater and then maybe something clistful has a gem of a spectacle of events changes for that special connection of tolerance and that special remembrance of shifting compliance.
The 49ers have put the parts together to mode the unit into functional success. Super Bowls are won by teams who play well for their coaches and play well for each other. Will the 49ers win the Super Bowl? They have to play well enough to get there first.
Besides, the Packers or Detroit Lions might have something to say about that. Let’s not count our chickens before they are hatched.
Dennis Freeman Jr. is a photojournalist and a contributing writer. His portfolio includes shooting images for Sacramento City College and writing sports commentary. Dennis is a native of the Bay Area and resides currently in San Francisco, California.