6 reasons why 49ers 2021 season was still awesome (it really was)

The 49ers may have fallen short in their quest for a Super Bowl after the 2021 season, yet the year still had plenty of reasons to be thrilled.

If we’re being honest, the ending of any season is going to suck for 31 teams, and only the Super Bowl winner is going to experience pure bliss heading into the offseason.

Simply put, the odds for “suckage” are pretty high.

The San Francisco 49ers and their fanbase can’t be feeling too good after the Niners’ NFC Championship game loss to the Los Angeles Rams, a 20-17 defeat that saw head coach Kyle Shanahan’s squad squander another 10-point lead late. Not only did that end San Francisco’s six-game win streak over its NFC West rivals, it also cost Shanahan and Co. a date with the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.

For the immediate future, that’s all that the fanbase will likely think about. And it’s OK.

However, when taking into account the entirety of the 2021 season, it’s not too hard to find out the reasons why the year was not just a success but also a wildly exciting campaign.

Let’s dive into those reasons and stay positive as best as we can.

Reason No. 6: 49ers overcame a near disaster from early this season

Remember when the 49ers had just come off a four-game losing streak and were 3-5 entering their Week 10 matchup against the Rams?

Amid a year that had so much hype in the wake of the injury-riddled 2020 campaign, the Niners were at least expected to make the playoffs. Perhaps they wouldn’t get to the Super Bowl, maybe a Wild Card win and that was it. But the early weeks of the regular season were essentially an unmitigated disaster.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan needed to be fired. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo needed to be benched. Everything needed to be “blown up.”

Those were the sentiments, understandably so.

Cold streaks like the one San Francisco endured easily derail lesser teams, and there’s no shortage of examples there any given year. Instead of falling into that trap, though, Shanahan effectively helped engineer a turnaround, and the 49ers managed to not only get into the playoffs but also advanced much further than anyone likely imagined.