Kyle Shanahan on Super Bowl hangover for 49ers: 'It's frustrating'

The San Francisco 49ers were just a few lucky breaks away from winning the Super Bowl in February. But just eight months later, they are fighting to even be considered a playoff contender, having been the latest team to experience the dreaded Super Bowl hangover. Coach Kyle Shanahan spoke about the experience, admitting it's hard not to get frustrated with their early-season struggles.

"I think it’s frustrating," Shanahan said, "I mean, just like you said, the Super Bowl hanging over, is just the big questions you’ve got to answer all the time and especially when you don’t have any offseason [program], so it kind of lingers even longer because I mean, the first time we came back after the Super Bowl was training camp. So it was kind of right there with the questions and stuff."

To be fair to Shanahan and the 49ers, the team has been decimated with injuries to a level rarely seen in professional sports. They have had several key players miss time or be ruled out for the remainder of the season, including Nick Bosa, Solomon Thomas, Raheem Mostert, Tevin Coleman, Jimmy Garropolo and George Kittle. The team has tried to keep their head above water with a "next man up" strategy, but it's clear they are missing several key guys, especially Bosa and Thomas.

And to make matters worse, the 49ers are stuck in arguably the hardest division in football, as the Rams, Seahawks and Cardinals are all looking like they could be headed for the playoffs. If the 49ers don't figure out a way to get their season back on track, they could go from Super Bowl contenders to earning a top-10 pick in the 2021 draft.