Why 49ers get back to Super Bowl in 2025 (and why they don't)

The 49ers still have the talent to return to the Super Bowl after losing it in 2024, but there'll be serious challenges next season.

The San Francisco 49ers have delivered some of the most heartbreaking postseason losses in franchise history under head coach Kyle Shanahan.

Dating back to the start of his tenure in 2017, the Niners have not only lost two NFC Championship games but have now dropped two Super Bowls, both to the Kansas City Chiefs with the latest stemming from the heartbreaking 25-22 overtime defeat in Super Bowl 58.

While this may incur blame and rage toward Shanahan, it's crucial to note how little success San Francisco had in the years prior to Shanahan's arrival. And while the end results have often been painstakingly frustrating, Shanahan and general manager John Lynch have turned the 49ers into a perennial Super Bowl contender.

That's a massive plus, something approximately three-fourths of the league cannot say.

After losing a Super Bowl, the first thing any team desires after absorbing the gut punch is getting right back to the big game the next season.

And ultimately winning it.

For the Niners, is that something feasible? Was the 2023 season an "all in" kind of year, or will Shanahan and Co. have just as good a chance of getting back to the Super Bowl next season?

Here are reasons why San Francisco will be back in the Super Bowl in 2025, and here are other reasons why the team won't.