The San Francisco 49ers are currently in the calm before the storm when it comes to Super Bowl preparations, but it won't be long before the circus that will be Super Bowl LVIII swings into full gear.
The 49ers will wrap up practice in Santa Clara before heading to Las Vegas, where they'll begin by encountering the Monday media frenzy that is Super Bowl opening night, followed by a week of potential distractions. But it sounds like they'll be up to the challenge of dodging those distractions, based on the comments they made to reporters on Friday.
Quarterback Brock Purdy, tight end George Kittle, and cornerback Charvarius Ward each took some time to speak to the media Friday, with all of them weighing in on how they'll remain focused amid the copious amounts of hype and hoopla that will surround them in Sin City. We'll break all that down in this version of 49ers Notebook, along with some thoughts from Ward on facing his former team, the Kansas City Chiefs. Plus we'll have some words from Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. Let's dive right in...
The task at hand
If there's any city in the United States with the ability to throw players on a Super Bowl team out of focus it's Las Vegas, but the 49ers sound fairly locked in as they get ready to make the trip. They're aiming to have all their arrangements done and dusted before departing to Sin City, while making sure their mind is in the right place to pick up where they left off once game preparations continue.
"So obviously it's a big game and trying to handle everything up until we leave and get on the plane to go to Vegas, just in terms of who's going to the game, all that kind of stuff," Purdy said Friday. "(And) obviously our scheme and what we're trying to do against the Chiefs, so that when we get on the plane and we're going through all the stuff throughout the week, we understand what we're trying to do and the plays that we're running and all that stuff. So I think it's huge, and Kyle's (head coach Kyle Shanahan) harped on it. We want to handle everything before we get on this plane this week as if we were playing this week. So it's been good. It's been efficient."
The 49ers have a mix of players who haven't been to a Super Bowl to go with several veteran holdovers from when the team faced the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV back in February of 2020. One of those veterans is linebacker Fred Warner, who as a team leader has been doing his part this week to make sure the rest of the team is in the right frame of mind.
"Every practice, every moment matters," Purdy said when discussing Warner's message Friday. "We all understand the stage that this game is going to be played on and you don't want to get to Vegas and with all the stuff going on let all that other stuff on the outside get in the way. And so Fred and all the vets really have been just harping on every moment right now this week is huge. And at the same time, who we are as a team is good enough, and we just got to continue to do what we've done all year, every single practice, nothing lackadaisical -- still bring the intensity in everything every day as best we can. I mean, that's what Fred has harped on and that's what the vets have been saying, too.
"And we're totally behind it. I think once we get to Vegas we'll start feeling it even more. But at the same time, we got to do what we've done all season long because that's good enough."
Ward is also among those to have played in Super Bowl LIV, although he did so as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs. He may get a taste of what Vegas has to offer in the early going, but he plans on getting zeroed in as the week goes along.
"Well, this Super Bowl's in Vegas, so you might turn up a little bit the first day or two out there, but after that, really just lock in, focus," Ward said. "The whole week is really like a movie, like you're going to see celebrities everywhere. Pregame on the field you might see Jay-Z, Beyonce, Kevin Hart, people like that. But it's still a game at the end of the day. We still got to go out there and try to get the win, especially in the Super Bowl. You know, you don't want to **** up in the Super Bowl, so you got to go out there all week and just be locked in, be on your stuff."
What will Ward do once it comes time to block out the noise and focus on the game?
"I do a lot of things," Ward said. "I read, I meditate, I say positive affirmations. I visualize and talk to my old lady -- my girlfriend. That's what I do to keep my head on."
Kittle has a much simpler way of looking at the week ahead. He'll be telling his teammates to stay with the routine they've been following throughout the year and to remember that there isn't anything to do in Vegas that would be more fun than winning the big game.
"Just do what you've been doing the whole season," Kittle said. "Don't make anything up. That's my thing. Yeah. Vegas, the street, the strip, all the lights -- it is what it is. But what's really cool would be winning the Super bowl. Anything else before that is -- who cares, really."
The 49ers are also fortunate enough to have a head coach in Shanahan with a heavy amount of experience in Super Bowls, both as an NFL coach and from having a father in Mike Shanahan who owns three Super Bowl rings himself.
"Kyle does a great job of that from a standpoint of painting the picture that needs to be painted each week," defensive coordinator Steve Wilks said Friday. "This is a normal week for us. Our approach is as if we're playing this week."
Old friends reunited, part one
Ward will have a unique mindset in next Sunday's game after having beaten the 49ers as a member of the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV. He admitted he'll have a little something extra on his mind this week as he faces the team he played with over his first four NFL seasons.
"Pretty high emotions," Ward said. "You know, Kansas City, best team in the world, they're the champs. They've been in four Super Bowls in the past six years. So it's a great feeling to try to go in there and knock off the best team in the world over the past five, six years."
Ward, who signed with the 49ers as a free agent following the 2021 season, almost got the chance to face the Chiefs last season but fell short when the 49ers lost in the NFC Championship game to the Philadelphia Eagles. Ward fully expected to face the Chiefs if the 49ers had beaten the Eagles, but he had to watch from home instead.
"It was kind of bittersweet," Ward said. "I knew they were going to make it to the Super Bowl because they're just a good ass team over there. They got Pat (quarterback Patrick Mahomes; he's like the ultimate equalizer, and Travis Kelce, Andy Reid calling plays. They got a crazy big three. I kind of figured if we went to the Super Bowl, we were going to be playing those guys and it would have been sweet to play them last year, but we got the opportunity this year.
"I'm pretty sure Kyle Shanahan probably wanted it as well. He had his opportunity as a head coach to win a Super Bowl. I'm pretty sure he felt like he had it in his hand in 2020 and kind of let it slip through. But this is the rematch right here."
Ward told reporters Friday the Chiefs were confident before Super Bowl LIV that they were going to come out with a win over the 49ers. They were able to do so in come-from-behind fashion, rallying from a 20-10 fourth quarter deficit to take a 31-20 win. This time, Ward is confident the result will swing the other way.
"We just knew we were going to win a Super Bowl," Ward said. "It wasn't a doubt in our mind that we (were) going to win a Super Bowl. And I feel like that's how this team feels this year."
Old friends reunited, part two
Super Bowl LVIII will feature two of the NFL's top tight ends in Travis Kelce and George Kittle, who over the years have become good friends off the field as well.
Kittle and Kelce have come together in the past for Tight End University, which is a now-annual offseason gathering of tight ends from across the league conceived by Kittle, Kelce, and former NFL player-turned-television analyst Greg Olson. Kelce spoke glowingly of Kittle Friday, handing him the title of the top tight end in the NFL.
"That's my guy right there," Kelce said. "The king of Tight End U, man. He's the best tight end in the league and deservedly so this year. He's been playing lights out, playing the best football of his career and really catapulting that San Fran team through the playoffs."
Both players should make a significant impact on Super Bowl LVIII, followed by what will likely be a warm greeting after the game comes to an end.
"I couldn't be more proud of him and couldn't be more honored really to go up against George in another Super Bowl," Kelce said. "I can't say enough amazing things about who he is as a guy and who his family is. Can't say a bad thing about him, man. It's going to be a fun time."
Spagnuolo will have his hands full
The coaching battle in Super Bowl LVIII will be one of the many intriguing storylines surrounding the game, with 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks trying to match wits with one of the all-time greats in Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, while Shanahan will try to get the best of a Super Bowl veteran in Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. Spagnuolo brought his A-game last week in the Chiefs' 17-10 AFC Championship win over the Baltimore Ravens, and he'll need to do it again against the star-studded offense of the 49ers.
Spagnuolo spoke Friday about two of the weapons he'll face next Sunday -- running back Christian McCaffrey and quarterback Brock Purdy. Spagnuolo got a dose of McCaffrey in a 44-23 regular season win over the 49ers in 2022, but McCaffrey played sparingly in that game after being traded to the 49ers from the Carolina Panthers days earlier. McCaffrey will be fully unleashed against Spagnuolo and the Chiefs on February 11.
"Thank God we got him then and not after they had him for two or three weeks," Spagnuolo said. "Listen, it's scary to watch all the weapons they have. He's one piece of it -- a big piece of it. And even in that game, the first time he touched the ball he ran for a seven-yard run or something, almost broke it out. He's explosive -- real smart football player. But he's not the only one. They're all over the place on this particular unit."
As for Purdy, Spagnuolo made it a point Friday to cast doubt on anyone who has been labeling the 49ers quarterback as a "game manager." Spagnuolo has come away impressed with Purdy from his film study, in particular after seeing some of the plays he's made with his legs.
"When you dive into it and you watch him, it's not a quarterback that's managing or all those tabs they put on him," Spagnuolo said. "He's for real -- makes all the throws, really really smart, and then what I didn't know... is how athletic he is. This is another quarterback that when you cover everything back there and he finds a lane in a pass rush, he can take off. He did it last week. He's done it in every playoff game and gets positive yards. That puts a lot of strain on us defensively. (I'm) thoroughly, thoroughly, thoroughly impressed with him."
Spagnuolo knows a thing or two about shutting down high-powered Super Bowl offenses, having been the architect of the New York Giants defense that famously kept the previously undefeated New England Patriots in check during Super Bowl XLII. That win gave him the first of his three Super Bowl rings, with the second coming as a result of the victory over the 49ers in Super Bowl LIV.
