Not much extra motivation is needed at this point in the NFL season.
Win against the top-ranked Eagles in Philadelphia on Sunday and the San Francisco 49ers travel to the Super Bowl to win their first Lombardi Trophy in nearly three decades. Losing and going home a game late for the second year in a row – last year the Niners lost to the Los Angeles Rams in LA and then two weeks later watched them win it all against the Bengals.
But San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan still found the perfect extra motivation on Friday before the 49ers boarded the team plane and flew to Philly.
“We always do small things,” he said said assembled media when asked how he motivates his team. “Today we watched the 2002 NFC Championship game with the Bucs and Philly. It was great to watch but a bit boring.”
As you’ll recall, the Bucs stunned the Eagles in Philadelphia that game, despite running 33 times for just 45 yards, going 27-10 en route to their first-ever Super Bowl win.
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The 49ers need to duplicate the former (beat the Eagles in Philly) if they want a chance at the latter, and they’ll try with a team that doesn’t look too dissimilar to the 2002 Bucs.
The Bucs were 4-point underdogs going into this game against the vaunted Donovan McNabb-led Eagles. Tampa Bay had one of the best defenses in league history, a solid but not spectacular quarterback, and great players (Keyshawn Johnson, Mike Alstott, Mike Pittman).
The 49ers go into Sunday’s NFC title game as 2.5-point underdogs against the Jalen Hurts-led Eagles. With Nick Bosa (18.5 sacks), Mr. Irrelevant at quarterback and a star-studded skill group (Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle), the 49ers have the highest-ranked defense in the league and the all-time guaranteed Defensive Player of the Year).
Oh, and one more really striking resemblance: 49ers general manager John Lynch was on that Bucs team.
“He came into my office just before I was going over it to prepare to show the team,” Shanahan said of Lynch. “He sat down and enjoyed watching it for about 10 seconds, then got up and paced the room without realizing it. I thought, ‘What’s the matter with you right now?’ And he says, ‘Why? What do you mean by that? Oh yeah, that brings back some feelings.'”
The 15-4 Niners face the 15-3 Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on Fox. Kick-off is at 12 noon on Sunday.