Don't remind us.
The San Francisco 49ers came up just short of winning Super Bowl 58, which ended up being a 25-22 Kansas City Chiefs victory in overtime. This was the Niners' second Super Bowl loss in a four-year span and other than the game going to overtime, it felt eerily similar to the defeat in Super Bowl LIV when Jimmy Garoppolo was the quarterback of the 49ers.
Brock Purdy was the quarterback of this NFC Champion 49ers team and recently spoke about the heartbreaking loss. Purdy said that he had some time to get away from the crushing defeat, as he got married in the offseason. When he returned to prep for the season, watching "highlights" from the Super Bowl was rough for the young quarterback.
“Once we got back for OTAs and stuff, rewatching the Super Bowl with Shanahan and Griese and all the guys, it’s like, Dang, it really was there,” Purdy said. “We were a couple plays away from winning it. You’ve got to learn from it, you’ve got to pick you [sic] head back up, go to work and try to go get it again. It was tough. Still look back on it and think, We wish we coulda, woulda, but that’s life, so now we’ve got to respond.”
The end result of this Super Bowl couldn't help but remind fans of the Super Bowl LIV loss when Jimmy Garoppolo overthrew Emmanuel Sanders for what likely would have been the game-winning touchdown.
Victory was right there, but tiny mistakes kept the Niners from hoisting the Lombardi Trophy for the first time in nearly 30 years.
Brock Purdy: "We were a couple plays away from winning it."
One of the plays Purdy might have been alluding to was in overtime when the quarterback had Brandon Aiyuk open in the end zone but couldn't get the throw off before Chris Jones came barreling toward him. Purdy had to settle for throwing the ball away and the 49ers kicked a field goal.
The Chiefs, much to Niners fans' dismay, stormed down the field and scored the game-winning touchdown to secure their third Super Bowl title in five years. Both of the 49er Super Bowl losses have come against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs and both have been absolutely devastating.
Purdy is entering his third year in the league and hopefully the old saying of "Third time's a charm" comes true for the 49ers this year. A third trip to the Super Bowl during Purdy's third year at the helm would help alleviate some of that pain from those two losses.
