SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Quick, name the best way to get people excited about a 6-10 football team. San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan has the answer.
In fact, Shanahan made the punchline one of his go-to jokes this offseason when asked about the hype surrounding his team coming off a season in which it again finished at the bottom of the NFC West.
"… I learned the way to get people to feel good about 6-10 is to start 0-9," Shanahan said. "I'm glad we didn't do it the other way around. That would probably be a totally different feeling."
The feelings surrounding the Niners are far more positive than normal for a team that was last in its division and had the ninth pick in the NFL draft. That wouldn't be the case were it not for how the Niners, with Jimmy Garoppolo taking over at quarterback, finished the season, by becoming the first team in NFL history to start 0-9 and finish with five straight wins.
What that unprecedented finish has wrought are outsized expectations more commonly associated with teams coming off multiple playoff berths, not one that just drafted in the top 10 for the third consecutive year.
All of which only adds another challenge to Shanahan's plate as he attempts to steer the Niners back to the postseason in his second season on the job. Yes, in Year 2 of what once looked like a long and arduous rebuild, the 49ers have to deal with hype.
"He’s made it a point that you have to ignore the noise," fullback Kyle Juszczyk said. "We’re all aware that everybody starts 0-0 at the beginning of the season, and if we’re going to do this thing, we’re going to have to earn it. So that’s how he has kind of put it to us."
Many NFL pundits have predicted the Niners will make the leap from losing record to the postseason. Others are willing to go so far as to identify the 49ers as a team capable of going from worst to first in the NFC West. To prevent those proclamations from seeping into his team's approach to the season, Shanahan has repeatedly pointed out that five wins at the end of 2017 mean nothing when it comes to 2018.
“… If our guys make a living just reading and listening to talk radio and stuff, that stuff could mess you up,” said Shanahan of paying attention to the hype. “I am aware that people have talked highly about us, and that’s what comes with the territory when you win your last five games after starting so bad. I mean, we all know that doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t.
"I could sit in here and talk about all expectations to our players, but all I’m doing is addressing what people are talking about outside of here. I don’t feel that with our guys."
Shanahan's message to his team isn't much different from when he took over in 2017. Last year, Shanahan often told his players he wanted them to be like sharks, the idea being that a shark wakes up every morning with a singular focus on getting to work and hunting down that day's food.
“It’s exciting for the fans," Garoppolo said. "No doubt about it. It was a good end of the season. It sounds very cliché, but it’s a new year. We have new players. Every team is different around the league now. You kind of start from the ground up, and I think we started with that in OTAs and got a good jump on it, but now training camp is here, and we have to take it one day at a time. I know it sounds very cliché saying that, but that’s the best way to approach it.”
It buoys Shanahan's message further that momentum from one season to the next in the NFL is far more myth than fact. Since 2001, 49 teams have finished with six wins. Of those 49 teams, only the 2017 49ers and 2010 Detroit Lions won more than three of their final five games. The Lions went on to go 10-6 and make the playoffs in 2011, but there's no clear correlation between a strong finish and going to the postseason the following year.
Among the six other teams with the highest positive point differential in their final five games the previous season, three went on to the playoffs the next year, and the other three had a losing record. Most recently, the Cincinnati Bengals were 3-2 with a plus-42 point margin in the final five games of a 6-9-1 season in 2016 and then went 7-9 last season.
Lest anyone believe they have arrived, the Niners can turn to cornerback Richard Sherman to offer a reminder of how far they still have to go. Coming from a place where winning was a way of life for most of his career, Sherman can speak authoritatively on what's required to get there.
"I don’t think anybody is thinking about last year or what happened," Sherman said. "It was a 6-10 team that didn’t make the playoffs, so the few positives that were from last year, they’re taking and appreciating them, but it’s still a 6-10 team at the end of the day. … Guys are hungry, they’re excited to get out there and prove that this is a great team and can win ballgames and consistently win ballgames.”
None of that is to say that the finish to last season didn't do some good for the 49ers. Defensive tackle DeForest Buckner said there’s something to be said for getting the "feeling" of winning. Anyone who remains on the roster from a year ago is quick to point out that the locker room is much closer after going through the trials of the 1-10 start and coming out on the other side in a better position.
“I see us as a team that has a chance to be better than we were last year," Shanahan said. "I think we’ve improved our talent. I think we’ve all gotten better at the schemes. I believe we’re a better team, but that’s just from [seeing] it on paper. We’ve got to go out and put the work in. We finished last year strong, but that has nothing to do with this year."