Thursday was the calm before the storm at 49ers practice. We're not talking about rain, but the pressure and publicity hurricane that is the Super Bowl.
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"When you go so early in your career it's like, man, this is what it's like," 49ers LB Fred Warner said. "You go to the Super Bowl every year and you have the chance to compete. But that's not what the case is. We've been so close and now we finally have another opportunity and you've gotta make the most of it."
It's Deja vu all over again as the Niners will face off against the Kansas City Chief - the same team who bested them in Super Bowl 54.
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Defensive lineman Nick Bosa was just a rookie in 2020, but he remembers the pain.
"How hard you have to play and how locked in you have to be for the entire four quarters if you actually want to win," Bosa said. "I've learned that and I'm just going to relay to the guys that there has to be a different level of effort and intensity."
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That effort and intensity was on display at their first full practice of the Super Bowl bye week.
Work that's critical for the 49ers as they install their hopefully game-winning plan for the Chiefs.
"Trying to get as much during this first week as possible," 49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan said. "When you get out there, you go through the same thing again, but it's totally different. Our monday is totally different with the media deal. Our routine is off because you have to do these press conferences every day. If you put stuff off to that week and think it's going to be a normal week, you're going to get to that Thursday or Friday and not feel as comfortable."
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This time next week, the team will be deep in the glitz and glamour of a Super Bowl in Las Vegas.
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They hope the taste of defeat last time and a focus on what they do best will fuel a victory to bring a sixth Lombardi trophy home to the Bay Area.
"It will be the toughest game that we play all season, no doubt about it," 49ers CEO Jed York said. "But we're going to be ready, we're going to make the most of this opportunity. I believe in our guys and I think we can go take care of business."
The team has knocked on the doorstep before, but the chance for history awaits them in Las Vegas.