Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers are in the Super Bowl, but their road to get to this point was not exactly easy.
The 49ers had to rally in each of their first two playoff games, coming back from a 21-14 fourth-quarter deficit against the Green Bay Packers in the Divisional Round and then storming back from down 24-7 at halftime to the Detroit Lions in the NFC Championship Game.
But Shanahan says that the tough wins have built character for the team heading into the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs on Feb. 11.
“I always think when you go through stuff like this it hardens you and prepares you for any situation,” Shanahan said, via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “You want to be able to go through tons of games and be able to win games any way possible. I always feel we’re capable of winning a game any way possible, but it just hasn’t gone that way this year totally.”
Being extra dominant is sometimes an issue, which the Baltimore Ravens found out the hard way in their 17-10 loss to the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game.
San Francisco smoked some opponents during the regular season, so Shanahan appreciates the fact that the Niners had to find new ways to win this month.
“We’ve been able to win a bunch of games pretty easily where that fourth quarter isn’t so stressful,” Shanahan said. “The ones that we lost usually you could see that happening earlier before that too. So to get in some games like this, it’s just good experience for our players to go through it and to make sure to see how important it is to go through all four quarters win or lose that you’re never out of it.”
The 49ers went 12-5 this season, winning the NFC West division title and capturing the No. 1 seed in the conference.
They had not been tested all that much until the past couple of weeks, but Kyle Shanahan and Co. have passed those exams with flying colors.
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