Several San Francisco 49ers players took part in this week's State of the Franchise event. The team came just short of achieving its goal last season and hopes to finish the job during the 2020 season.
Players were asked about the goal for the upcoming season. While he understands the journey will be difficult, head coach Kyle Shanahan has already stated that his expectations are to get back to the point where the team stumbled, and right that wrong.
"We've got to get right back to that fourth quarter, and get to have a lead, and we've got to finish the job," Shanahan said this week.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk may have questioned the statement, but Shanahan's players have the same mindset.
"I think the focus is obviously to make it back to the big game and winning it, this time around," linebacker Fred Warner told Keiana Martin and Greg Papa during the State of the Franchise event. "I think that's the focus every year, is to make it to the Super Bowl. But we all understand that there's a lot of time and effort required to get to that point.
"So, we're just going to take it one day at a time and make sure we're working our tails off to get back."
Warner isn't alone in his line of thinking.
"We're just trying to be better than we were last year," pass rusher Nick Bosa added.
Bosa added that, thanks to last season, the team knows it can do it and has a "win-now mentality" going into training camp and the upcoming season. Championship windows can close quickly, so the young pass rusher hopes this group of players can take advantage of its opportunity.
"I think we took major leaps as a defense this year," defensive lineman Arik Armstead said. "But I think we can be even better moving forward in the future. So, cleaning up some of the mistakes from last year, and striving to be better than we were."
Warner further discussed the challenging climb back to the mountaintop.
"Get back to the Super Bowl," he said when asked to define the state of the franchise. "It's not handed to you at all. It's a very long process. It's a very long season. So we have to make sure we're not thinking too far ahead. We use that experience to our advantage, but we know we've got to grind even harder to make sure we get the outcome we want.
"So, we're excited. We're ready to get back in the building, so when we do get that call, we'll be ready."
Added Richard Sherman: "With the leadership and the talent that we have coming back, we can be even better. We left some plays out there, myself included. We have some unfinished business."
