By Brian Murphy
The Jock Blog is here to make official what you all felt in your 49ers heart, bloodstream and gut late last Sunday afternoon:
It is ON.
Like, Super Bowl ON.
The 49ers’ 32-29 win over Seattle was an orgy for the senses. I’m talking about the senses that govern vengeance, the senses that govern feelings of retribution and redemption, the senses that make you feel that feel when you physically punish an NFL foe, the senses that tap into those soul-satisfying barbaric yawps in front of your TV.
But that was just the visceral part.
More important, the win stamped 2026 as an official run for the whole enchilada.
We know intellectually that since Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch arrived and worked through the growing pains of 2017 and 2018 and finally unveiled that Kyle offense, that the 49ers were going be a factor every year. Heck, Jimmy Garoppolo is now a punch line in the NFL — but in 2019 he was minutes away from a Super Bowl championship. That’s how much Shanahan changed this franchise.
And we know of course about the two losses in the Bowl, and we know about the pain of the NFC Championship loss to the Rams (where art thou, Jacquiski Tartt?). The 49ers have been a major NFL factor for years. It’s all common knowledge that Kyle Shanahan is that dude.
There are detractors, of course, but those detractors are not correct.
Which brings us to last year, and the injuries to Nick Bosa and Fred Warner and George Kittle and the dip in Christian McCaffrey’s yards per carry and then the common belief that the 49ers got old and got old fast and that a substation was casting an electromagnetic spell on them. The Seahawks embarrassed them in the NFC divisional playoffs, and the 49ers looked to be a mile away. Many spoke of windows, and many spoke of windows being painted shut.
The Niners signed Mike Evans, and the Jock Blog approved, but the naysayers said that Evans was too old and injury-prone. And then the summer got weird with Shanahan’s car accident and Evans and McCaffrey and Bosa sitting out most of August and then, of course, the embarrassment of Jed York’s arrest, which theoretically had no bearing on the football team.
But, still. You know. Bad looks.
And then romp over the Rams in Australia raised an intrigued eyebrow, and then the handling of business over the Cardinals, Dolphins and Broncos raised another intrigued eyebrow but — still, Seattle loomed and Bosa got hurt again and, despite Brock Purdy’s MVP-level play, what would happen in the 206 in Week 5 to validate or invalidate these Niners?
That game happened. The Malik Mustapha hits. The Renardo Green picks. The Gracen Halton surge. And Mike Evans, Mike Evans, Mike Evans.
And by the time the 49ers left the field with Warner yelling ‘DUB CITYYYYY’, the narrative firmly took hold:
The 49ers are a Super Bowl team, and can win a championship in February of 2027.
Before last Sunday, it was a plausible thought.
After last Sunday, it became the only mission acceptable.
You might say it’s always the only mission, and the Jock Blog concurs.
But there’s a difference between saying Super Bowl-or-bust and living it.
The road map is now clear: The 1 seed. The Bowl. A championship.
Future Jock Blogs can assess the likelihood of adding a receiver or a defensive lineman — or both — to the cause.
The most important thing was the flag plant of championship intention. The Jock Blog is here to acknowledge the flag plant, to sign the proclamation in a Jock Blog ceremony that it is officially ‘49ERS SUPER BOWL SEASON’ and give Mike Evans the key to the city of Santa Clara.
This feels real. In your heart, bloodstream and gut.
—30—
