The road to recovery officially starts today for 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw after he underwent successful surgery on his torn Achilles.
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00:00 I've covered a lot of those goodbye days in a lot of sports and I have to say I often
00:06 find them boring but I don't think that was the case today.
00:10 So I'm going to ask you to perform an exercise that I would give to my writing students at
00:17 Stanford or University of San Francisco.
00:21 I would like you to do an in the present tense, a first person narrative starting with walking
00:27 into the locker room today on pack up day and what do you see?
00:32 Present tense, first person.
00:35 Okay, I walk in and it's quiet.
00:41 There aren't many players milling around.
00:44 If there's a player there at their locker and they're unpacking.
00:48 So I walk in and I see a group around Trent Williams.
00:54 He's talking already.
00:56 I missed the first 30 seconds of his interview.
00:58 So I run over, I get my phone out and I'm filming him and I've never seen him look more
01:04 depressed.
01:05 There's a very flat affect in his voice.
01:09 There's no emotion.
01:12 He just sounds depressed, answering questions in as few words as possible and I don't judge
01:17 him for it.
01:18 It just reminds me of how difficult it is for players to talk after a loss like this
01:24 and how remarkable it was that someone like George Kittle could be so composed after the
01:28 game and go into such detail.
01:29 So Trent Williams, monosyllabic, depressed, not into it.
01:33 Then we see, it's like one person at a time walks in.
01:36 I see Brandon Ayuk on my left and he's wearing sunglasses and a hat, all black, like he's
01:43 at a funeral and he's hugging someone and someone says, "Brandon Ayuk's ready."
01:47 I was thinking Brandon wouldn't talk.
01:49 He looked like he was at a funeral and he had the sunglasses on, which kind of indicated
01:54 he may not be interested in talking.
01:57 He also seems to be on social media talking about a contract extension or a trade, whatever.
02:03 Brandon's ready to talk.
02:04 We all go over there.
02:05 I'm surprised.
02:06 We start asking him questions and at first it seems like he's, I don't know, maybe being
02:10 difficult.
02:11 He doesn't really want to talk, answering and barely answering.
02:15 But remember he has his glasses on, it's hard to see his eyes.
02:17 And then once we get past the questions about his contract, start asking about the Super
02:22 Bowl, you could hear that he's crying and he's trying his best to answer our questions
02:28 while trying his best not to cry.
02:31 And after about three minutes, he says, "I can't do this anymore.
02:36 I can't do this anymore."
02:38 And he gets his things, walks out and as he walks out, I say, "Brandon, I just want to
02:43 say you had a great season.
02:44 Congratulations."
02:45 And he said, "Thank you."
02:46 That was the last I'll see him maybe ever as a 49er.
02:49 Who knows?
02:50 I got to work that out.
02:51 He could be the next DeForest Buckner.
02:52 So he leaves and then who was next?
02:56 Brock Purdy's ready and he stands at his locker for 15 minutes like the head coach of the
03:02 team, like he's completely over it.
03:06 It was the exact opposite of Brandon Iyuk.
03:08 Whatever you need, I can give it to you, which is I guess how a quarterback has to act.
03:13 Another him is Christian McCaffrey, monosyllables, seething anger.
03:20 George Kittle, once again, it's just one after another.
03:23 George Kittle, helpful.
03:25 He's gotten really good with the media.
03:27 We used to say that he was a bit of a phony.
03:29 Not anymore.
03:30 He's very serious.
03:31 He's been one of the more serious people on the team after this loss.
03:33 So he talks, Nick Bosa talks, he's composed.
03:37 Devo Samuel talks.
03:39 I'm not sure why he stood there and refused to answer questions.
03:42 He should have just not talked.
03:46 One after another.
03:47 And it was interesting to see how different players dealt with it in different ways.
03:52 Some guys were angry, some guys were sad, some guys were over it, or at least outwardly.
03:57 Iggy, you said McCaffrey was seething with anger.
04:02 What do you mean by that?
04:03 Like, there's a difference between, I'm not going to say much because I just don't have
04:10 the words, I'm kind of depressed, from I'm not going to say much because I'm not sure
04:17 I have something good to say.
04:19 Like clenching your jaw.
04:20 He looked like he was clenching his jaw and holding himself back from saying, I don't
04:25 know what he wanted to say.
04:26 But it wasn't like, man, it's just, I don't know.
04:30 That was Trent Williams.
04:31 I don't know.
04:33 Chris McCaffrey was like, "Yep, it's a really tough feeling.
04:37 I haven't thought about it yet.
04:38 It's hard.
04:39 I'll talk to my dad."
04:40 I don't know.
04:41 How do you interpret the difference?
04:42 That's just how I saw it.
04:44 I didn't see him, so it's impossible for me to say, but I did see IU because you posted
04:49 the video of him.
04:51 At first, I agree with you.
04:54 I thought he was being difficult, but then I realized, no, he's actually trying to be
05:00 helpful and he's fighting against his emotions.
05:03 And then he did start to cry.
05:05 And what I want to say is, I have tremendous respect for him.
05:10 This obviously meant everything to him.
05:12 It's not wrong for a grown man to cry.
05:15 It meant everything to him and he did the best he could.
05:18 So I want to say I respect him and my heart goes out to him.
05:22 I would also say, although later I'm going to be critical of the Niners, my heart goes
05:28 out to those players.
05:29 And here's what I mean.
05:31 Iggy, they really thought they were going to win.
05:34 That's part of what you saw today.
05:37 They're shocked that they didn't win.
05:39 They thought they were the better team and they may be the better team.
05:44 And it's like the earth started spinning the other way.
05:52 It was incomprehensible to them and still is that they lost that game.
05:57 That's why it felt like a funeral in there.
05:59 They felt in a way they had died because they expected to keep living, that they would be
06:05 the Super Bowl champions.
06:07 And God love them for it, but it will take them time to get over it.
06:12 And I think in this regard, it's good.
06:17 It shows that it deep down mattered to them, that they were fully invested.
06:25 And I respect that.
06:27 Now I have a lot of criticisms on how they played and how they were coached, but how
06:32 they reacted, I'm talking about today and I only saw a little bit on the video.
06:38 I thought they were terrific.
06:41 And even Adibo Samuel, he came across a little curt and a little rude, but I don't think
06:51 he meant to.
06:52 I think he was having trouble.
06:54 And I think if you were to see Samuel in two weeks, you and he could smile and shake.
07:00 Absolutely.
07:01 Iggy, you know, can you hear me?
07:05 Because you're freezing a tiny bit, but talk a little and make sure I can hear you.
07:11 Definitely.
07:12 I'm not all the players mentioned.
07:16 This loss felt like much more.
07:17 Yeah.
07:18 Can you hear me or is my internet terrible?
07:19 Internet's really bad.
07:20 Can you keep talking?
07:21 And I'll let you know I got you.
07:26 Yeah.
07:27 OK.
07:28 Keep talking, guy.
07:30 OK.
07:31 You know, one possibility.
07:35 You know, yeah.
07:36 Players kept talking about.
07:42 The players kept talking about how this loss felt like much more painful than the last
07:45 Super Bowl loss.
07:46 And you just mentioned like why they even ask caution and why was this one more painful?
07:50 And he just kind of summed it up like, well, it's because that we were in overtime.
07:52 No, it wasn't just because you were in overtime.
07:54 It's because you were favored to win and the team thinks they're better than the Chiefs.
07:58 And it was really close.
07:59 And when you come away from that, that game thinking, why did the Niners lose?
08:04 It's unclear why they lost.
08:06 Defense played well.
08:07 The offense didn't play well.
08:08 Why?
08:09 Well, the quarterback did play well.
08:10 Brock Perry didn't throw a bunch of turnovers.
08:12 He protected the ball.
08:13 He was good.
08:14 So why did the offense not?
08:16 I mean, no one really answered the question.
08:19 And I think the answer is the coach.
08:23 And when you start to lose confidence in the head coach, that's a big problem.
08:27 So maybe they haven't.
08:28 Maybe they'll be all in with Kyle Shanahan when the season starts next year.
08:30 But I think right now they're having really serious questions about the most important
08:37 person in their organization about his judgment.
08:41 Yeah, right, Iggy, about a judgment.
08:45 So let me tell a little story here.
08:47 I had been in Las Vegas with Iggy and I flew home Sunday morning to watch the game at home.
08:52 I wasn't going to I'm no longer credentialed, so I couldn't go in the press box and I didn't
08:57 want to spend six thousand dollars for a ticket, nor did I want to hang around Iggy's hotel
09:01 room.
09:02 So I came home and I was watching the game.
09:04 And in the third quarter, my phone rings and I was kind of angry because people know I'm
09:09 a former sports writer.
09:10 And why would you bother me in the Super Bowl?
09:12 I look, it's Ira Miller.
09:13 Now, Ira Miller and I covered all those great teams at the Chronicle for the 49ers.
09:20 And Ira is the gold standard.
09:22 Everyone agrees, right, in terms of football coverage.
09:25 She's retired now, like I am.
09:27 And he says he says, lo, I can't believe it.
09:30 Shanahan is doing it again.
09:32 He said he he hasn't learned.
09:34 So what do you mean?
09:35 I he says, look, it's the third quarter.
09:38 He's thrown all these passes.
09:41 He's just gone three and out three in a row.
09:43 And he says if they lose this game, he lost it in the third quarter.
09:49 Ira is so sharp.
09:51 And I, you know, I hadn't even been thinking about I was just watching the game.
09:55 And then he said he got me.
09:56 He couldn't get off the phone.
09:57 He was so worked up.
09:59 You know, he knew Mike Shanahan very well.
10:01 Ira did.
10:02 And he said, you know, when he won with Elway, who was a better quarterback than Brock Purdy.
10:06 I mean, I don't think we need to argue about that.
10:10 Mike Shanahan, he won two in a row, right?
10:12 Iggy.
10:13 And he Ira showed me that he ran more than half the time, even with Elway.
10:20 But this guy, his son passes more than half the time in this game.
10:25 So it was he didn't learn from the other times he gave up leads in the in the Super Bowl.
10:33 He hasn't learned why he did that in the third quarter.
10:36 You asked him after the game and he gave you some baloney answer.
10:40 Every play is different.
10:41 I mean, drop that.
10:43 Oh, well, you're right.
10:46 You asked him, why'd you go away from the running game?
10:48 He said, I didn't, which is demonstrably, demonstrably untrue.
10:54 So it's it's it's he of course he did.
10:56 [MUSIC]