5 reasons why SF 49ers get back into Super Bowl in 2022
By Peter Panacy
The SF 49ers missed out on their ‘revenge tour’ in 2020, but the Super Bowl in early 2022 is very much in play, and the Niners could be there.
Let’s take the optimist’s approach with the SF 49ers and their upcoming 2021 campaign en route to hopefully landing in Super Bowl LVI in February of 2022, shall we?
Naturally, all the Niners’ fanbase wanted to see the team do in 2020 was engineer an impressive follow-up campaign, or “revenge tour,” over the course of 2020 after suffering a heartbreaking loss in Super Bowl LIV the previous February.
Yet a swarm of injuries, including many suffered by key impact players, ultimately derailed those chances for head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. Meanwhile, the defending-champion Kansas City Chiefs are right back in the big game, only this time they’ll have to pull off a win over quarterback Tom Brady and the highly potent Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
San Francisco doesn’t have to care about that game. No, it’s far more concerned with the Super Bowl in 2022.
So, if we’re going to be looking up and with all the hope available, here are five reasons why the SF 49ers are right back in the Super Bowl a little over a year from now.
No. 5: Injuries can’t pile up for SF 49ers again like they did in 2020
A simple law of averages indicates the Niners won’t go through the same kind of injury attrition like they suffered last season again in 2021.
San Francisco was among the league leaders in money spent on players on injured reserve, and no other team put more players on injured reserve or had to go with more lineup combinations than Shanahan’s squad.
It wasn’t just the number of injuries either. Key names like quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, tight end George Kittle, EDGE Nick Bosa, cornerback Richard Sherman, running back Raheem Mostert, EDGE Dee Ford, wide receiver Deebo Samuel and safety Jaquiski Tartt (all key starters, mind you) missed extensive time with injuries.
Some of those names won’t be back in 2021. But the core of this particular SF 49ers squad still boasts the talent needed to get back into the playoffs.
Considering the massive injuries suffered, it’s almost a miracle the Niners managed six wins in 2020. Armed with even just half the aforementioned names fully healthy over the course of this upcoming season, getting back into the 10- or 11-win column almost seems like an easily achieved feat.