Despite the San Francisco 49ers’ attempts to downplay the Super Bowl loser curse before this season, the first half of 2024 has felt very much like that.
The summer was filled with contract issues, and injuries sidelined many of last season’s star players. The team has shown inconsistent performance, unlike the dominance they displayed against many opponents in 2023.
Now, the 49ers (4-4) are heading into their bye week with a .500 record, fighting just to get back into the playoffs.
San Francisco managed to secure a 30-24 win over Dallas, with a strong third quarter showing them what they need to do in the second half of the season to shake off the Super Bowl slump and return to last year’s level of consistency.
“I feel we’re capable of doing everything else we set out for,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “I look at where our team is at and where I think our team can be, and I don’t think we’re there yet. I think there are a lot of things we need to improve on.
I think we are gradually doing that. But I think we’ve got the guys here capable of doing it. We’ve just got to make sure we become a better team in the second half than we were in the first half.”
The summer contract disputes kept key players Trent Williams and Brandon Aiyuk out of training camp, and injuries to stars like Aiyuk, Christian McCaffrey, Javon Hargrave, and Talanoa Hufanga have made it tough to find a rhythm.
The 49ers let 10-point leads slip away in the fourth quarter during division losses to the Rams and Arizona and struggled against Kansas City and Minnesota. There have been few strong performances from a team that won four of its first five games last season by at least three scores.
It’s not a new situation for a team that has just lost the Super Bowl.
Teams often struggle in the following season, whether it’s because of the toll from playing extra games, the disappointment of coming so close, or just a natural drop in performance.
The 49ers understand this well, having finished 6-10 in an injury-filled 2020 season after their first Super Bowl loss to Kansas City. They are among 14 teams in the past 35 seasons that missed the playoffs after losing in the Super Bowl.
In total, only three teams have ever won the Super Bowl the year after losing it, with the 2018 New England Patriots being the only team to do so in the last 50 seasons. Dallas and Miami achieved this back-to-back in 1971-72.
The Patriots are also the only Super Bowl runner-up to make it back to the championship game the following year since Buffalo lost four straight trips from 1990 to 1993.
The 49ers hope to replicate that success, and there are encouraging signs from their slow start this season. San Francisco has been a much better team in the second half of the last two seasons, going 16-2 after their bye week, which helped them make deep playoff runs.
The rookie class has made significant contributions, especially standout right guard Dominick Puni and inspiring receiver Ricky Pearsall, who provided a big boost when he returned to play after being shot in the chest just a week before the opener. This has helped improve the team’s depth.
The expected returns of injured players like McCaffrey and linebacker Dre Greenlaw could ease the burden on stars like Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Brock Purdy, George Kittle, and Trent Williams, helping San Francisco return to the level they played at in recent seasons.
“We have everything ahead of us,” Warner said. “We can be whoever we want. We have everybody that we need. In terms of players, obviously, we are banged up.
We will get healthy after the week, hopefully get some guys back. It’s about just getting better at this point. We can’t keep getting up for a game and then dropping one and then, ‘Oh, let’s try and figure out a way to win another one.’ Let’s just get better.”
