2024-02-05
1 小时 3 分钟They’re heading to the Super Bowl for the second time in five years. But back in 2018, they were coming off a long losing streak — and that’s the year we sat down with 49ers players, coaches, and executives to hear their turnaround plans. It’s probably time to consider the turnaround a success.
Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner.
It's time for a bonus episode.
As you may have heard, the Kansas City Chiefs are heading to another Super bowl.
Their quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, is starting to look like one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history, but even he is often eclipsed by the team's tight end, Travis Kelsey.
Not just for Kelsey's on field abilities, which are prodigious, but because he is dating the world's most enthusiastic new football fan, who also happens to be the world's most famous entertainer.
That's Taylor Swift.
And who will those Chiefs be playing in the Super bowl?
That would be the San Francisco 49 ers.
If you are not much of a football fan, the 49 ers might not seem to be as much of a story as the Chiefs.
But there is a story there, perhaps an even more compelling one, including a quarterback named Brock Purdy, who was considered such an unlikely NFL prospect that he was the very last player taken in his year's college draft.
He was the 262nd pick in the NFL.
This earns you the nickname Mister irrelevant.
If Purdy helps the Niners beat the Chiefs in this year's Super bowl, he will probably earn a better nickname.
Several years ago, long before Purdy came along, I spent some time in California with the 49 ers as they were embarking on what would prove to be a dramatic turnaround.
I spoke with players, coaches, executives and others, and that is the bonus episode you're about to hear, with updates as necessary, plus additional tape and, weirdly, a brief mention of Taylor Swift.
Most of the players from that 49 ers team are gone, including the quarterback who was supposed to be their savior, Jimmy Garoppolo.
But three of the episode's central figures, owner Jed York, general manager John lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan, are still there, and more central to the team than, by the way, the 49 ers and Chiefs met in the Super bowl just four years ago after the original version of this episode was first published.
The Chiefs won that one.
As for this year, personally, I have some friends who are big Chiefs fans, and I love watching Mahomes and Kelsey and the angry running Isiah Pacheco from Rutgers, even the walrus y coach Andy Reid.
But I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit hoping that the 49 ers can take this one.