MIAMI, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 02: Kyle Juszczyk #44 of the San Francisco 49ers reacts after a 15-yard touchdown reception against the Kansas City Chiefs during the second quarter in Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium on February 02, 2020 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
The San Francisco 49ers are looking to defy the history books in 2020.
The San Francisco 49ers have an arduous challenge on their hands in 2020, recovering from the agony of a Super Bowl defeat to return to the big game and hoist the Lombardi Trophy.
It is a task very few franchises have risen to in NFL history. Just eight teams have returned to the Super Bowl a year after losing it and only three of that group have emerged victorious.
For the Niners, putting the collapse they endured in the 31-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV may prove particularly difficult given the nature of the defeat.
San Francisco, holding a 20-10 lead in the fourth quarter, was seven minutes away from a sixth Super Bowl title before the 49ers surrendered 21 unanswered points to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
In the aftermath, head coach Kyle Shanahan expressed confidence his team would be able to recover from the heartache they suffered in Miami.
Shanahan, per ProFootballTalk, said:
“It [bouncing back] shouldn’t be a problem. We’ll lick our wounds, we’ll get over this. We’ll be fired up for next year, we got a lot of people coming back. I think we surprised a lot of people this year.”
Some significant changes have been made to a stacked roster, but the 49ers head into the 2020 season in excellent shape. Here we look at five reasons why they will prove Shanahan right and hoist the Lombardi in Tampa next February.
5 reasons the San Francisco 49ers can win the Super Bowl in 2020
The continuity factor
An offseason in which teams have seen the usual workout schedule decimated by the coronavirus is likely to have the most significant impact on those who have undergone wholesale changes, with the time for players to get adjusted to new schemes now limited.
That is not a problem for the 49ers. Having kept the bulk of their 2019 vintage around, the vast majority of the players on San Francisco’s roster are familiar with the systems run by Shanahan and his staff.
The Niners’ most prominent and most important acquisition, left tackle Trent Williams, has vast experience playing in Shanahan’s offense from the head coach’s time as a coordinator for the Washington Redskins.
Getting back into the swing of things should, therefore, be little trouble for the 49ers. In an offseason like no other during the modern NFL era, that continuity factor cannot be undersold.
Instead of scrambling during training camp to get players acclimated to the complexities of the systems ran on both sides of the ball, Shanahan and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh can primarily focus on fine-tuning what was devastatingly effective for the 49ers in 2019.
That is a distinct advantage for the Niners as they seek an immediate return to the grandest stage, and it is one Shanahan can be expected to take full advantage of.