Fred Warner, Nick Bosa, and Kyle Shanahan spoke at the podium.
The San Francisco 49ers will hold their first official Super Bowl practice Thursday afternoon. Tight end George Kittle is the only player who won’t participate. Kittle is out with a toe injury.
Kyle Shanahan said it’s not a turf toe injury or anything to be concerned about. Cornerback Ambry Thomas will be limited with an ankle injury. Linebacker Oren Burks is also limited with a shoulder injury. That’s the extent of the injury report.
Shanahan, Nick Bosa, and Fred Warner spoke at the podium. Effort was a word that was used early and often between the three. The trio used the word a combined ten times at the podium on Thursday. Warner said that he was scarred from the last Super Bowl he was in after thinking the 49ers would win when they were up ten.
Bosa said the effort has to go to another level as a team. Shanahan said there were a few bad clips he could pull. And while that was unacceptable, the defensive play was more about being unable to stop the run.
Warner said the defensive performance through two games hasn’t “been good enough. Not good enough at all.” The emphasis in meetings this week for the 49ers defense has been playing for four quarters.
Shanahan had this to say about Patrick Mahomes: The quarterback is as hard to beat as anyone who has ever played the game.” Bosa smirked, started laughing, and led with a “whew” when asked how you slow Mahomes down. Warner acknowledged that Mahomes is “special” and that “he’s one of the greatest to ever do it.”
Bosa said that Shanahan called it “defensive line stamina,” which is the key to winning this game. Their goal is to keep Mahomes in the pocket.
Bosa was succinct with his answer when asked what he sees in the Chiefs offensive tackles: “They hold a lot.”
Bosa wouldn’t answer whether he was held on 3rd & 15 in the last Super Bowl. He said, “Probably. Eric Fisher.”
The trio was also complimentary about Chiefs running back Isaiah Pacheco. Shanahan and Bosa spoke about how hard Pacheco runs, saying that he revamped Kansas City’s running game. Shanahan said he’s the reason the Chiefs are so good at running the ball and that Pacheco is one of the most consistent players in the NFL.
Warner said he was naive in 2019, thinking that the 49ers would return to the Super Bowl every year. Like, that’s how the NFL works. But the 49ers have an opportunity again. One that they don’t know if they’ll get again. And Warner said they have a chance to right the defense’s wrongs:
“This is an opportunity, in my eyes, to correct the wrongs that we’ve had. Even though we played the way we did and still found a way to win with, the offense that we have right now says everything about our team and about our chances of winning this game coming up.
Because if we do shore up the things that we need to. If we do come out and play the defense that I know we’re capable of doing, then I know we have a great chance of winning this game.”
That they do.
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