In the past five NFL seasons, the San Francisco 49ers built arguably the most complete roster in professional football. Not once. All five seasons. They secured the services of generational talents from Nick Bosa to Fred Warner to Richard Sherman, Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle and Deebo Samuel, among others. And yet …
In those same five seasons, San Francisco lost a Super Bowl and dropped two conference championship games, with one nonplayoff campaign and this current run mixed into this stretch. Throughout it, the 49ers could sometimes seem cursed, whether from injury outbreaks or quarterback shuffling or close losses impacted by injuries or signal-callers.
Many examine such circumstances and offer the simplest reason: San Francisco was no more than a quarterback away most years. It’s not that simple, though, and the oversimplification starts with ignoring the 49ers’ offensive evolution and where it led, to the crux of all future ambitions for this hard-luck, well-built franchise, including winning Sunday’s conference championship clash with the Detroit Lions. That crux, the x-factor to end all x-factors, isn’t quarterback Brock Purdy, Kittle or even Bosa. It’s Samuel, upon which so many legacies and reputations rest.