The Indiana Pacers had a heartbreaking moment in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday evening when their star player, Tyrese Haliburton, sustained an Achilles injury and missed the rest of the game. One could not help but think of Dre Greenlaw's similar fate in Super Bowl LVIII.
In February of 2024, the San Francisco 49ers were taking on the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. In the second quarter, star linebacker Dre Greenlaw ran onto the field and ruptured his Achilles. He immediately fell to the ground and was unable to play the rest of the game.
It was an awful moment that made it feel like, somehow, San Francisco was cursed. Despite the injury to Greenlaw, San Francisco still came close to winning the Super Bowl. They held a three-point lead late in regulation before the Chiefs tied it up, and then the Niners made a field goal in overtime before Kansas City scored a touchdown to win it.
Tyrese Haliburton injury reminds 49ers fans of Dre Greenlaw
Still, in such a close game, it is hard not to feel like Greenlaw being out on the field for the entire game could have changed everything. 49ers fans know he has a penchant for making massive tackles with the game on the line, and just two games before that Super Bowl loss, he clinched the NFC Divisional game against the Green Bay Packers with an interception.
Greenlaw said he still sheds tears thinking about his injury in the Super Bowl and that he felt like he left his teammates hanging. Of course, it is not Greenlaw's fault for his injury; it was just a freak thing that happened and was out of his control.
The injury is not completely analogous to Haliburton's, however. For as good of a player as Greenlaw is, he is not a star in the same way that the Pacers point guard is. Losing Haliburton the way Indiana did would have been like if quarterback Brock Purdy or running back Christian McCaffrey had gone down with an injury in the first quarter of that fateful game against the Chiefs.
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Purdy must have been heartbroken seeing his friend and fellow Iowa State athlete Haliburton go down with an injury in such a big moment. The quarterback can also relate to him in a way because of the elbow injury he sustained in the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles a few seasons ago.
It felt like that game was stolen from the Niners even more than the second Super Bowl loss against the Chiefs. However, Indiana fans must feel like they were robbed of a true chance in Game 7.
Injuries are an unfortunate and inevitable part of sports. But, whenever a player goes down with an Achilles injury in a big game, it will be hard for 49ers fans to not have flashbacks to that dark moment when Greenlaw went down in Super Bowl LVIII.