Many times after big wins, coaches and players talk about the 24-hour rule. Celebrate the win for 24 hours, and then focus on the task ahead. Around 19 hours after picking up the win over the Rams, Kyle Shanahan is already focused on avoiding a letdown in Week 11.
Asked yesterday during his conference call if the team was anxious or nervous about a possible upset by the Jaguars this Sunday, Kyle acknowledged the pitfalls currently facing a team in this situation.
“I wouldn’t to use the words nervous or anxious, but you understand that reality. Emotional games and stuff like that you’ve put a lot into, I’ve definitely seen that happen to teams. That’s why we weren’t trying to celebrate too much last night. We’ve been frustrated with how this year has gone. We were very happy with how last night went, but that’s one game. This league is week-to-week and it doesn’t matter what you did the week before. I know if we can’t get it done this week, I know it’s not going to mean much to us at all.”
All the ingredients for a letdown game are there. The 49ers are coming off an emotional win, they’re playing on the road against a bad team, and there’s a 10 AM body-clock kickoff. That’s a recipe for disaster for any team, and it’s going to be incumbent upon this coaching staff to make sure San Francisco comes out with the same energy we saw on Monday night.
At 4-5, the 49ers can’t afford any letdown games. All of the good things we saw in Week 10 - the intensity on defense, the efficiency on offense - all of that can evaporate very, very quickly. Kyle said it himself - lose Sunday and the victory over the Rams becomes meaningless.
Here’s hoping that the win over the Rams is a springboard to a winning streak rather than just another crest on the roller coaster the Niners have been on so far in 2021. You can hear the rest of today’s 49ers in Five (including a very frustrating comment on Trey Lance) wherever you get your podcasts.
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