49ers fans chanted ‘Cowboys suck’ during Super Bowl Opening Night

Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday in Las Vegas kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET on CBS. It’s expected to be the most-watched program on television of all time. Last year’s Super Bowl audience ballooned with 115.1 million viewers.

49ers hope to finally break title drought after 30 years

The 49ers are back in the Big Game after four years and they’re hoping this is the trip that wins them a sixth Lombardi Trophy for the franchise. It’s been a long time coming and a difficult road to make it back, according to Kyle Shanahan.

“It’s very hard,” Shanahan said. “When you go into January every year to February, it’s just long. But you always feel it after, whether you lose an NFC Championship, whether you lose a Super Bowl. You ask anybody, whether it’s one of them, whether it’s two of them.

“After that it’s like, ‘Oh my God, that took so much and was so long to get there. How can you ever do that again?”

The last time the 49ers faced the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, the Chiefs emerged victorious. Since then, much has changed, including the face of the franchise. Quarterback Brock Purdy was still in college when San Francisco last had an opportunity to win it all.

“Every year is just so unique,” 49ers tight end George Kittle told reporters this week. “That’s what makes it so difficult. … You can’t keep everybody; you can’t pay everybody. You have to fill gaps, you have to bring new guys in. You have to try to keep your culture.

“There’s just so many interchanging parts, and so to continue and sustain winning as many regular-season games as we do, making the playoffs, it’s very difficult.”

If the 49ers don’t win the Super Bowl this year, who knows how long it will be before they make it back. The team understands the stakes.

“We’ve got to pay it off,” San Francisco general manager John Lynch said. “Nobody really remembers who lost in the Super Bowl. If you want to be remembered … here’s your opportunity.”