How the San Francisco 49ers Stopped Being Losers (Update)

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🗓️ 5 February 2024

⏱️ 64 minutes

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Summary

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.

Transcript

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0:14.0	Hey there, 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
0:18.6	best quarterbacks in NFL history, but even he is often eclipsed by the team's tight end, Travis Kelsey.
0:25.6	Not just for Kelsey's on-field abilities, which are prodigious, but because he is dating the world's
0:31.8	most enthusiastic new football fan,
0:34.8	who also happens to be the world's most famous entertainer, that's Taylor Swift.
0:40.0	And who will those chiefs be playing in the Super Bowl?
0:43.4	That would be the San Francisco 49ers.
0:46.4	If you are not much of a football fan,
0:48.4	the 49ers might not seem to be as much of a story as the chiefs. But there is a story there, perhaps an even more compelling
0:56.6	one, including a quarterback named Brock Purdy, who was considered such an unlikely NFL prospect that he was the
1:04.0	the very last player taken in his year's college draft.
1:07.0	He was a 260 second pick.
1:10.0	In the NFL, this earns you the nickname,
1:12.0	Mr. Irrelevant.
1:14.1	If Purdy helps the Niners beat the Chiefs in this year's Super Bowl, he will probably earn a better
1:19.3	nickname.
1:20.7	Several years ago, long before Purdy came along, I spent some time in California with the 49ers
1:26.3	as they were embarking on what would prove to be a dramatic turnaround.
1:30.4	I spoke with players, coaches, executives, and others. And that is the bonus episode you're
1:36.2	about to hear with updates as necessary, plus additional tape. And weirdly, a brief mention of Taylor Swift. Most of the players from that
1:46.8	49ers team are gone including the quarterback who was supposed to be their
1:50.9	savior Jimmy Garopolo, but three of the episode's central figures,
	...

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