The 49ers fell one game short of making Super Bowl LVI, but there are some key takeaways the Niners can learn from the game as they prepare for 2022.
Perhaps the San Francisco 49ers would have beaten the Cincinnati Bengals if the Niners had properly handled their business in the NFC Championship game against the Los Angeles Rams, taking advantage of that suspect Cincy offensive line en route to knocking off quarterback Joe Burrow and securing the franchise’s sixth Lombardi Trophy.
In fairness, though, San Francisco vastly overachieved in 2021 and into the playoffs this year, and even making it to the conference championship was an accolade in itself.
Instead, however, the 49ers have to watch the Rams/Bengals brag about their championship after pulling off a 23-20 victory in Super Bowl LVI on Sunday at SoFI Stadium, putting the finishing touch on the 2021-22 campaign and leaving Niners fans everywhere questioning, “what if?”
Fortunately, though, head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. can look at the Super Bowl and come away with some key learning points they’ll need to turn the 2022 season into one where San Francisco is hoisting the Lombardi Trophy and no one else.
Here are those five key lessons the 49ers should have learned from Los Angeles/Cincinnati’s Super Bowl victory.
49ers Super Bowl lesson No. 5: An elite pass rush matters
Fortunately, the Niners are coming off a 2021 regular season in which they recorded 48 sacks, tied for fifth most in the league but still trailing the Rams’ NFL-best 50 sacks.
Sacks aren’t everything. But the Super Bowl revealed why any an offensive drive can be derailed by getting to the quarterback.
Pro Bowl EDGE Nick Bosa, who led San Francisco with 15.5 sacks last year, is expected to be even more prolific in 2022, which is a good thing. Let LA managed to showcase its own formidable pass-rushing defensive front with Aaron Donald, Von Miller and Leonard Floyd throughout much of the regular season and into the playoffs.
Pass-rushers have played vital roles in each of the last two Super Bowls, and Sunday’s contest was no different with Donald drawing the attention from the center, freeing up Miller for sack opportunities on Burrow.
From the 49ers’ vantage point, they’ll need to look hard at the complementary options behind Bosa on the depth chart, made even more apparent with the understanding defensive linemen Arden Key, Jordan Willis and even Dee Ford could be off the roster this offseason, leaving only Samson Ebukam as the “big name” opposite Bosa.
Sounds like an offseason priority the Niners have to figure that out, right?
49ers Super Bowl lesson No. 4: Going ‘all in’ can get you a Super Bowl
The Rams and Bengals both took two vastly different routes to get to Super Bowl LVI.
Cincinnati, a two-win team two years ago, took the organic approach and built primarily through the NFL Draft, onboarding Joe Burrow in 2020 as the No. 1 overall pick and then subsequently grabbing wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase with its following first-round selection in 2021.
Worked out pretty well, right?
Los Angeles, meanwhile, didn’t value first- or even second-round picks the same way, instead choosing to use draft capital to acquire quarterback Matthew Stafford last offseason and then Von Miller prior to the NFL trade deadline.
The latter went “all in” for 2021, essentially arguing for a “Super Bowl or bust” campaign, and the end result speaks to what approach worked… this time.
San Francisco has a player core that can win right now, built largely through the draft and including 2021 rookie quarterback Trey Lance.
For the all-in crowd, though, the notion of trying to add a potentially wanting-to-come-out-of-retirement quarterback like Tom Brady might signal a very Rams-like approach for 2022.
How would the 49ers want to approach that potential lesson and takeaway might be a hot topic for the offseason.
49ers Super Bowl lesson No. 3: Playmakers make plays
It sounds awfully cliche, but the full truth of any postseason game is to let your team’s best playmakers make the kind of impact plays needed to advance.
Or in this case, win a Super Bowl.
Case in point, the Rams relied on wide receiver Cooper Kupp to make the plays necessary in the fourth quarter, including that go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter, which culminated in his eight-catch, 92-yard performance with two touchdowns.
The Niners probably wish they understood this lesson a bit clearer in the NFC Championship game when, at a crucial point and facing a 2nd-and-1 in need of a first down to continue winding down the clock with a second-half lead, wide receiver Deebo Samuel didn’t touch the ball despite three additional chances to reach the first-down marker.
Instead, San Francisco elected to punt after failing to convert.
Samuel, the 49ers’ biggest offensive game-changer from 2021, should have been called upon in that situation.
Los Angeles afforded its playmakers the opportunity to make game-changing plays at the biggest moments needed.
49ers Super Bowl lesson No. 2: Being aggressive helps… sometimes
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor could have abandoned the idea of going for it on fourth down after a failed conversion earlier in the Super Bowl.
Yet Taylor nevertheless went for it again two more times. One successful conversion. And then the failed conversion late in the game.
Additionally, Rams head coach Sean McVay also made it a point to go for it on fourth down, posting that 1-of-1 conversion mark, which panned out nicely enough.
The aggression worked out earlier in the game, both from Cincy and LA’s perspectives.
Yet the Bengals didn’t have the offensive line and push to make that 4th-and-1 conversion attempt late in the fourth quarter. While a 1-of-3 mark on fourth downs will help in some cases, it needs to be prompted by better efforts earlier.
Both on the drive and the series.
49ers Super Bowl lesson No. 1: Quarterbacking matters
On the surface, Kyle Shanahan told reporters the reason why the 49ers drafted Trey Lance as part of the plan to move on from quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was due to the frequent injuries Garoppolo had suffered over the span from 2018 through 2021.
The harder reality, though, was Garoppolo might classify as one of those signal-callers who’s good enough to get a team like the Niners deep into the playoffs, potentially even reaching a Super Bowl (see 2019), but not good enough to carry a team to a championship.
Matthew Stafford/Joe Burrow might not be in the pantheon of the NFL’s five-best quarterbacks going right now. But both should be viewed as superior to Garoppolo, especially in terms of big-play abilities in the game’s biggest moments.
Case in point, Stafford that final 15-play, 79-yard drive that culminated in the go-ahead touchdown to Cooper Kupp in the fourth quarter.
In contrast, Garoppolo’s fourth-quarter implosions during both Super Bowl LIV against the Kansas City Chiefs and then against the Rams in the NFC Championship game highlighted one crucial element San Francisco was missing from its offense: a game-changing quarterback.
The 49ers hope they’ll get that in Lance, yet the offseason and eventual deployment of Lance as the team’s QB1 will ultimately serve as the full judge and jury.
But if Super Bowl LVI revealed anything to the Niners, it’s that effective quarterbacking matters.
A lot.