Brandon Aiyuk firmly believes the 49ers were the best team in the NFL this season.
In an interview with TheSFNiners, Aiyuk explained why he believes San Francisco was the team to beat in the latter part of the season, despite their disappointing loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game.
"We have a talented football team," Aiyuk proclaimed. "We have, hands down, the best football team in the league. Hands down.
"I'm not going even going to argue with anyone who thinks they should argue that."
Aiyuk shared that as he is watching pundits talk about the Eagles and how Philadelphia had "the most loaded team in football" all season, he believes San Francisco had the better players on both sides of the ball regardless.
"But that's what makes it so sick about this one because we feel like everything we did from that point on ... just what we did to the league, how we just played on tape, I firmly believe we put fear in the opponent's hearts," Aiyuk continued. "When they had to come to play San Francisco, the 49ers, we felt like it was our time.
"We felt like it was our time and for that to get cut short, it's sickening."
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After winning 12 straight games heading into the NFC title game, the 49ers were routed by the Eagles, 31-7. Rookie quarterback Brock Purdy tore his UCL in the first quarter and from that point on, the 49ers had an extremely slim chance of pulling out the victory against a healthy Eagles team.
And so for Aiyuk to feel some type of way about how San Francisco's season ended makes sense, especially considering the circumstances surrounding Philadelphia's eventual victory.
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Had the 49ers been fully healthy the entire game, perhaps the outcome against the Eagles might have been different.
Nevertheless, Aiyuk undoubtedly will use the loss as fuel to turn himself into a more complete receiver and back up his claim that the 49ers are the best team heading into the 2023 NFL season.