A funny thing happened to the 49ers in late November while they were on their one-hour flight to Los Angeles to play a must-win game against the Rams.
Santa Clara County officials pulled their home and home stadium out from underneath them while they were in the air.
You just can’t make up this stuff. And in this ludicrous San Francisco season during which nothing seems to go right and a strange set of circumstances seems to be lurking around every corner, the 49ers being forced to find a new place to practice and play their home games on the fly at the beginning of the crucial December stretch run seems to fit right in with all the other craziness that has zapped the team in 2020.
“It was just extremely disappointing,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said.
For many in 49erland, so was the aftermath of the decision that had the 49ers relocating to Arizona during an unusual three-week road trip that had them living, practicing and playing their Week 13-14 scheduled home games at facilities normally used by their NFC West rival Arizona Cardinals.
It’s possible San Francisco could finish the season engaged in the very same scenario.
The 49ers were on their team airplane headed south when news came to San Francisco’s traveling party that Santa Clara County had imposed a ban on contact sports designed to curb the spread of COVID-19 in a Northern California region that’s been hit particularly hard by the novel coronavirus ever since the worldwide pandemic began in March.
Esta historia es de la edición January 2021 de Niner Report.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición January 2021 de Niner Report.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
EIGHT IS ENOUGH
Set 49ers lineup still has several new starters
Calling all cornerbacks
Loss of Verrett exposes 49ers’ thin depth at CB
Always finding their way to run
49ers system accomplished at developing homegrown talent
ANOTHER COMEBACK?
Resilient veteran Verrett to miss rest of season
TOP 10 Rookie running backs
THE BACK LIST
STOCK UP STOCK DOWN
DEOMMODORE LENOIR | AMBRY THOMAS
Will Mostert run for 49ers again?
Raheem Mostert was primed this year to be the centerpiece of one of the NFL’s most dynamic offenses, featured as the lead performer in San Francisco’s grinding rushing attack while making his climb among the league’s top running backs.
THE WONDER OF WARNER
49ers make All-Pro star highest-paid LB in NFL
Making the right choice at QB
In the weeks that follow after you read this — and perhaps sometime even sooner than that — Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the 49ers organization will make a titanic decision that will have present, future and perhaps even everlasting implications for the franchise. It will chart the course for the team’s pivotal 2021 season while determining whether San Francisco really does have the juice to return to powerhouse status and again be considered a legitimate contender to get back to the Super Bowl.
TOP 10 Linebacker seasons
Fred Warner vaulted to stardom with a spectacular 2020 season — and the 49ers rewarded him this summer with a $95.225 million deal that makes him the highest-paid inside linebacker in NFL history. By today’s standards, Warner’s performance last year was worth the money as he posted an Approximate Value of 19 — matching the highest score ever recorded by a San Francisco defender according to a Pro Football Reference formula that puts a single number on each player-season across all positions since 1960. Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman (twice) also had seasons with an AV of 19 as they dominate this list of the greatest individual seasons by a linebacker in 49ers history.
