Fred Warner is confident that his moment will come. He believes the San Francisco 49ers remain one of the best teams in the NFL, and it’s only a matter of time before they hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
It’s been over three months since Warner and his teammates experienced the heartbreak of the overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII. Speaking to NFL Network’s Steve Wyche and Judy Battista, the star linebacker admits he isn’t quite over that loss. In fact, he isn’t even over the Super Bowl defeat he suffered four years ago.
“Those things stay with you,” Warner said. “In this league, you earn scars. Throughout the league, you face adversity. Losing the Super Bowl, of course, is as big of an adversity that you can hit, and it stays with you and it makes you stronger. It makes you better. I know I’ll be better from it.
“I’ve watched it several times and seen different plays that we could have made to win that game, and you just got to be better for next time. It’s not a matter of ‘if’ in my mind. It’s a matter of ‘when,’ when we do go win one.”
Warner believes the 49ers have built their roster the right way, which will ultimately lead to achieving their ultimate goal. What does the team need to do to get over the hump? “I don’t think there’s one perfect answer,” Warner responded. “People are always going to try to critique things [about that Super Bowl loss], especially later in the game. I know there was this big hoopla about the coin toss for overtime and all these sorts of things, but there’s so many plays within a game where you’re like, ‘Man, if we could have just made that one play, that was the play to win the game.’ And there’s so many of those throughout the game.
“So, really, I think the key is to continue to find guys who are finishers. You want to bring in cats who can finish. And the guys who are here, you want to have an internal look at yourself and be like, ‘Man, how can I be better for this team?’ I looked at myself, even after having a good year last year, how could I be better for that moment to where I can possibly punch a ball out or I can force an interception in some way, something where I can help finish the game for my team?”
Warner added, “So, I think if we’re all doing that, then we’ll be in a good spot.”
The 49ers kicked off organized team activities this week, just one step in their journey of redemption, aiming to be the last team standing with a victory in the 2024 season.
