Richard Sherman says Super Bowl loss helps keep 49ers disciplined in following COVID-19 protocol
By John Buhler
Richard Sherman and the San Francisco 49ers want to go back to the Super Bowl.
Richard Sherman and the San Francisco 49ers are taking COVID-19 protocols very seriously.
San Francisco may have one of the better teams in football again in 2020. After ending up with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, the 49ers nearly pulled off the unthinkable. They made it all the way to Super Bowl 54, coming up one quarter short of obtaining their sixth Lombardi Trophy in franchise history. The Super Bowl loss is fresh in all their minds and they want to avenge it.
Sherman told Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News, “Our team is incredibly focused because of how close we were to winning the Super Bowl last year and that bitter taste in your mouth is discipline enough.” Being the smartest team about combatting the coronavirus will be an advantage, but getting to a Super Bowl is so hard. Can the 49ers make it to Tampa in 2021?
#49ers Richard Sherman on teammates avoiding COVID-19 from easing up in society:
— Cam Inman (@CamInman) August 4, 2020
"Our team is incredibly focused because of how close we were to winning the Super Bowl last year and that bitter taste in your mouth is discipline enough."
Will the San Francisco 49ers be able to get back to the Super Bowl in 2021?
Though the New England Patriots routinely got to the Super Bowl during the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era out of the AFC, the NFC has not had a repeat champion since the 49ers’ NFC West rival Seattle Seahawks pulled it off in 2013 and 2014. In most instances, a top-two seed from either conference ends up reaching the Super Bowl in recent years. Can the 49ers pull it off?
They will play a first-place schedule in 2020, as opposed to a third-place schedule like they did in 2019. San Francisco should be a playoff team in the NFC this year, especially with an expanded field. However, the 49ers might play in the toughest division in football. Seattle should be a playoff team, the Arizona Cardinals could and the Los Angeles Rams have an outside shot at it as well.
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Overall, the NFC is too menacing for us to forecast a repeat champion to have earned the right to go to the Super Bowl. Look for teams like the Seahawks, the New Orleans Saints and the Philadelphia Eagles to be in the mix to represent the NFC this year. San Francisco shouldn’t be ruled out of getting back to the title bout entirely, but those Super Bowl hangovers are brutal.
Sherman and the 49ers will need every edge they can get if they want to get to Tampa in 2021.