2023 ended like every San Francisco 49ers playoff run since 1994 has; with heartbreak. Kyle Shanahan earned the chance to avenge his Super Bowl 54 loss against the Kansas City Chiefs. Just like four years earlier, he saw an early lead dissipate into a cloud of red-and-orange confetti.
That was a brutal finish, but it’s not the end of the road for the Niners. San Francisco will bring back most of the foundation that pushed it to Super Bowl 58, from Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey to Nick Bosa and Charvarius Ward. While teams like the Detroit Lions, Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Rams may be coming up in their rear view, the rest of the NFC remains a spilled bag of Superballs, bouncing off each other with few predictable patterns.
That leaves a clear path back to prominence. But the 49ers will have to address these three problems first.