LAS VEGAS — George Kittle has delivered on a promise. Video making the rounds on social media this week showed Kittle on the sidelines in the waning moments of a 31-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV in Miami.
Helmet on, breathing heavily, Kittle, who was mic’d up at the time, was talking to himself on the sideline and speaking more deliberately than usual with no trace of his trademark enthusiasm.
“I will be back here,” Kittle said, measuring each word. “I will be back here. I will be back with a (expletive) vengeance. You will not get the best of me, no sir.”
That was four years ago. The 49ers are a much different team, with eight players who participated on the night they lost a 10-point fourth-quarter lead and succumbed to the magic of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
Defensive tackle Arik Armstead was 26 and in his fifth season out of Oregon. Kittle had blossomed into a star in his third season. Inside linebacker Fred Warner was in his second year as a starting inside linebacker and fullback Kyle Juszczyk in his third year with the 49ers after signing as a free agent.
Then there were four members of the 2019 rookie class: edge rusher Nick Bosa, wide receiver Deebo Samuel, punter Mitch Wishnowsky and linebacker Dre Greenlaw.
(Tight end Ross Dwelley was on the 2019 team but is currently on injured reserve. Defensive lineman Kevin Givens was on the roster that year but was not active for the Super Bowl.)
The Miami Eight get their second shot at the brass ring Sunday when the 49ers face the Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium.
Kittle was asked on Super Bowl Opening Night about his MacArthur-like proclamation.
“If you don’t speak it into existence, how is it ever going to happen?” Kittle said. “Surround yourself with good people. Friends are like elevators; they can bring you up or they can bring you down. I try to surround myself with good people and one thing the (Niners) have done is fill that building with good people who want to go up.”
Juszczyk believes the 49ers are better for the experience of having gone through Super Bowl week once before.
“We only have eight guys who played in this game four years ago — we still feel that in the locker room from the guys who were in the previous game,” Juszczyk said Tuesday. “I think the biggest thing we learned is to handle this week. If you’ve never experienced this before, it can be a lot. but if you know, ‘This is how we do it, this is what we do,’ it’s a lot easier to take this in and focus on the game.”
Greenlaw has given some thought to what it was like to get so close and not finish the deal.
“Losing it the last time makes you want to win the game for those eight guys that were here,” Greenlaw said. “They were not here just for that game, but for the last four years. In the end, the only thing that matters is winning the Super Bowl.”
Warner believes the Super Bowl loss as well as two crushing NFC title game defeats to the Rams and Eagles have better prepared the 49ers for what they’ll face Sunday.
A dejected George Kittle leaves the field in Miami after the 49ers lost 31-20 to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV in Miami. Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group
“You develop these scars, losing a Super Bowl, losing NFC Championship Games,” Warner said. “I’m so blessed I’ve had the opportunity to even be a part of those games. I’m in Year 6 and it’s my second Super Bowl with as talented a team as we’ve been a part of. I think those adversities make you who you are as a team and an individual and harden you for moments like this.”
Bosa said on Opening Night he was struck by the “thin margins for error” against Mahomes and is appreciative of a second chance.
“Very grateful for the opportunity against the same team,” Bosa said. “We have to make it count this time.”
Bosa may have a few thoughts on the first Super Bowl matchup for his teammates when he gives his weekly Saturday night pregame speech.
“No sharing but there are a couple recordings that I have,” Bosa said. “I had some thoughts and I didn’t want to forget them so they’re in my phone.”
Samuel, on the other hand, said he has erased his first Super Bowl from his memory.
“I don’t think about it,” Samuel said. “That’s not for me.”
Rather than use his Super Bowl wins against the 49ers and Eagles as motivation, Mahomes said on Opening Night he was fueled by a 31-9 loss to Tampa Bay in Super Bowl LV.
“The win is amazing,” Mahomes said. “It’s one of the best moments of your entire life. You take away all the positives from that. But the loss, that stings. That motivates you for years. It’s motivated me to be back in this game again. I want to make sure that I can have that winning feeling and not that losing one because that losing feeling is one you’ll never forget.”
Having lost two NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl, as well as losing a 28-3 lead when he was an offensive coordinator for Atlanta against New England before he was hired by the 49ers, coach Kyle Shanahan was reluctant to rank his defeats in order of pain.
“Anyone who loses a Super Bowl probably ranks that up there,” Shanahan said. “Seeing my dad when he was a coordinator for three Super Bowl (losses) in Denver when I was younger, I know how hard it was on him. Any time you get close and lose the last one, it’s definitely the hardest.”
As much as the 49ers would like to get a win for Shanahan as well as veteran left tackle Trent Williams, Juszczyk considers it more of team objective than satisfying individuals.
“I feel like we see ourselves as a unit and it’s not so much about our individual paths and goals,” Juszczyk said. “This team, really, right now, we know if we can get our team goals that’s going to satisfy everybody.”
Armstead has visions of a happy ending when the 49ers come back home.
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“I can only imagine the parade in San Francisco and how awesome that would be,” Armstead said. “I would celebrate that one for a very long time.”
On the flip side is defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, who isn’t one of the Miami Eight but played for the Eagles when they lost to Mahomes and the Chiefs 38-35 last season in Super Bowl LVII.
“It’s just not wanting that feeling,” Hargrave said. “I want to feel the other side of it and how it feels instead of being all sad . . . you think about it all the time, how it was one of the worst days. I really haven’t gotten over it and just don’t want to feel it again.”
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