Can the 49ers Salvage Their Super Bowl Window?

But the 49ers' chance to win a championship with Purdy on his dirt-cheap rookie contract has passed them by, with the former Iowa State star breaking the bank this offseason with a long-term contract extension that features an average annual salary of $53 million.

On the latest episode of "Best Podcast Available," I sat down with Niners expert Kyle Madson to talk about whether or not the best football we'll see from this current San Francisco regime is in the rearview mirror, or if there's still championship potential in the near future under Shanahan and Lynch.

"I think it is in the past," Madson said. "Because they were so good. Between 2019 and 2023, save for a weird year in 2020 where they were super banged-up, they've been Super Bowl contenders. That's a crazy long window in the NFL. So, I'm not gonna sit here and say, 'Yeah, they'll do that again,' because it's really, really difficult to have everything fall into place in that way."

Madson does see plenty of reasons to believe in the current iteration of the 49ers though, and sees a scenario in which enough things fall their way to give them a shot at title contention, despite the salary cap challengers that come along with Purdy's new deal, and a mass exodus of veterans on defense this offseason.

"But if you're looking for a team that could do it, I think you're looking at a team that's well-equipped to do so," Madson said. "Because yeah, Brock Purdy gets more expensive, but they still have Fred Warner, who signed an extension this offseason. They still have George Kittle, who's an All-Pro, and signed an extension this offseason. Christian McCaffrey, by all accounts, is healthy as can be, he's participating fully in camp. He's not getting some random days off, he's not on some weird snap count. He just seems to be good to go."

"So, there's a chance they could be really competitive this year," Madson continued. "But that's gonna take a lot of things going right, and a lot of rookies, specifically, playing really, really high-level football out of the gate."

Madson makes it clear that making the 49ers one of the league's best defenses despite the loss of key players with valuable experience won't be a quick fix, like we saw from last year's Super Bowl winner.

"This is not an Eagles situation, where you throw Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell into the secondary, and you just feel good about it," Madson said. "They're throwing those guys into a defense that's already really good, right? The 49ers overhauled their defensive line completely, and they might have three rookies starting alongside Nick Bosa. You have Dee Winters, who's probably gonna start at WILL linebacker, a super-important spot in their defense. He was a sixth-round pick in 2023, I thought he might be off the roster, and now all of a sudden, he's playing really well and he might start. They've got some questions in the secondary."

While Madson doesn't expect the 49ers to make it all the way back to the Super Bowl this season, he sees the potential for a bounce-back season that puts them back in the playoffs with double-digit wins.

After that, maybe the 49ers can build up to another title run and keep their Super Bowl window open under the current brass.

"There's a way this goes right, and they're competing for a Super Bowl again this year," Madson said. "But I think they're probably circling 2026 and 2027 as the years where they really ramp up, back into that conversation. My anticipation this year is that they'll be around that 10-win mark, with a wild-card spot in the NFC."

To check out the entire conversation, watch the full episode of BPA here: