Super Bowl seduction is real for 49ers amid Levi’s Stadium preparations
SANTA CLARA – Supersized white tents and metal scaffolding are going up around Levi’s Stadium’s perimeter.
Inside, strict security is in place as work crews shuffle through the cinder-block corridors and mysterious rooms to prepare for Super Bowl LX, taking place here Feb. 8 on just-installed green sod.
The 49ers can’t ignore this. One player called the event prep “annoying,” but others acknowledged it is the NFL’s ultimate carrot, seducing them right at their own home.
“When I look at it, I’m thinking of it like, ‘They’re getting it ready for us,’” defensive tackle Kalia Davis told the Bay Area News Group. “We’re fighting for a home game on the last game of the year, most definitely.”
Because they’re the No. 6 seed, the 49ers (13-5) won’t be home for any playoff game unless they string three road wins together for the NFC’s Super Bowl berth.
They won their fifth straight road game Sunday by eliminating the defending champion and No. 3-seed Eagles, 23-19 in Philadelphia.
“The closer you get to (the Super Bowl), the more the possibility becomes real,” defensive end Sam Okuayinonu said. “But we stay where our foot is and we have Seattle ahead of us now.”
Indeed, the 49ers are intensely focused on Saturday’s 5 p.m. rematch in Seattle against the No. 1-seed Seahawks. Winner goes to the Jan. 25 NFC Championship Game, against whoever advances Sunday between the No. 5 Los Angeles Rams and host No. 2 Chicago Bears.
Had the Bears lost last Saturday’s wild-card thriller to the No. 7 Green Bay Packers, that would have kept the door open for a possible 49ers-Packers NFC finale at Levi’s Stadium.
Only the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers have pulled off what the 49ers are attempting: a wild-card run over three road trips to eventually hoist the Lombardi Trophy on home turf.
Home sweet home has changed, however. Some signs listing off team mottos – like staying humble and focusing on themselves — have been taken down over doors.
“I was like, ‘Why would they take them down now? I feel like we still need them,’” right guard Dominick Puni said. “So, yeah, it’s got to be for the Super Bowl.”
Players were given special passes into their parking lot, even though security guards already recognize their cars by now. No one will deem tighter security a burden.
“That’s the price you pay for the Super Bowl,” said Puni, who was a high school sophomore defensive lineman in the St. Louis suburbs a decade ago when Levi’s Stadium hosted Super Bowl 50 (Denver 24, Carolina 10).
Such construction chaos wasn’t an issue a decade ago. The 49ers had just completed a 5-11 season and transitioning coaches from Jim Tomsula to Chip Kelly.
The 49ers have defeated each of the three other teams remaining in the NFC, though they lost rematches at home to the Rams and the Seahawks.
And now the 49ers are packing their bags for a seventh road trip in their past 12 games. They’re 8-2 overall on the road, losing Oct. 12 at Tampa Bay (30-19) and Oct. 26 at Houston (26-15); they’ve outscored their hosts 275-214, starting with a 17-13 win in the season opener at Seattle.
“I don’t want to talk too much about last week but I can vouch for the fact the atmosphere is going to be just as electric going up to Seattle,” linebacker Eric Kendricks said. “That’s what makes football fun. We’re on the road, in a hostile environment. People want to see us fail.
“But it’s about bringing your pads on the road, like Fred (Warner) told me today,” Kendricks added. “So bring your pads on the road and be ready to hit somebody.”
Two wins from now, those shoulder pads could be waiting for them at their home stadium, where their lobby’s Lombardi Trophy case hasn’t expanded in 31 years.
“ Honestly, I look at it like, dang, it’s cool is the (49ers’) owner to be able to do this,” wide receiver Jauan Jennings said. “He’s got general contractors out here getting it in. That’s cool. That’s how I look at it ’cause, they’re at work and I’m heading into work.”