Patrick Willis, a star for the 49ers, is still devastated by the Ravens’ Super Bowl loss.
This is the oblique perspective of the Bay Area’s top linebacker, Patrick Willis, who revealed to ESPN personality and former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III that the conclusion of Super Bowl XLVII still bothers him. Although Charm City gridiron fanatics are frequently more than happy to recollect, fans on both sides rarely need a reminder of how the romance concluded.
By the two-minute warning, San Francisco had reached the Ravens’ five-yard line, and Baltimore was leading 34-29 with just over four minutes left. Of the 75 yards Gore had previously gained on the play, the most had come from a 33-yard run that put the 49ers in the red zone.
Speaking on “RG3 and the Ones,” Griffin’s podcast, Willis thought he was going to get another handoff to Gore. This was especially true when he recalled that head coach Jim Harbaugh had predicted that the team would win a Super Bowl by riding the legs of the power rusher and an offensive line that included Joe Staley and Mike Iupati.
Our position was on the five-yard line. I thought, ‘Man, this is it,'” Willis recalled. “Harbaugh said in training camp… he was talking in training camp about how we had the best power runner in Frank Gore and how we had the best offensive line, and I’m like, ‘this is it.’ All this grind, and we’re going to win the Super Bowl.”
The 49ers reached the five-yard line thanks to a two-yard rush by LaMichael James, but three straight incomplete passes by Colin Kaepernickโall aimed at Michael Crabtreeโgave the Ravens the ball back.
After taking the lead at their own five, Baltimore rushed the ball, something San Francisco had not done. Ray Rice, Bernard Pierce, and Vonta Leach each had one rush to bring the time down to 12 seconds, but Sam Koch purposefully took a safety, setting up a free kick that officially moved the meter to quadruple zeros.
San Francisco would have pulled off the greatest Super Bowl comeback in history if the 49ers had been able to score the game-winning touchdown (later exceeded by the New England Patriots).
Willis’ inner monologue took on a tone of confusion when the 49ers’ final offensive scheme came into play.
“I suddenly noticed them make a gesture or audible… “I know they’re not about to run this play,” I remarked. Willis was recalled with a game-high 10 tackles. “When they ran that last play out of all plays they could run, I said, ‘wow.”
Since then, San Francisco has returned to the Super Bowl twice (2020, 2024) with a purple-clad brother named John, but both times they suffered sad losses to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Turn out the lights! After Super Bowl XLVII, Lamar Jackson started to support the Ravens.
Jim Harbaugh, the head coach of the 49ers, expressed regret about the team’s failure soon after taking over as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. Willis, who was just elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, is not the only former 49er still hurting from the loss to the Ravens.