Some, if not most NFL players, are lucky to reach the Super Bowl just once in their careers.
It's exceedingly rare to do it multiple times with the same group of teammates.
For 49ers linebackers Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw, they return to the biggest stage in professional sports for the second time in four years for a Super Bowl LVIII bout against the Kansas City Chiefs on Feb. 11 and Allegiant Stadium.
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Warner and Greenlaw joined NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco for an exclusive interview on the latest episode of "49ers Talk," where they discussed how important winning a Super Bowl is after coming close in the Super Bowl LIV loss to the Chiefs four years ago.
"That's everything. That's being immortalized forever," Warner told Maiocco. "That goes on for eternity, winning a Super Bowl and being known as a Super Bowl champion the rest of your life. Trust me, I've made the All-Pros and the Pro Bowls. I've done that sort of thing.
"I haven't won a Super Bowl and I know that feeling is way more meaningful for a lifetime than any sort of individual award."
Greenlaw, who played in a Super Bowl as a rookie in 2019, admittedly underestimated how difficult it is to return to that stage year in and year out.
San Francisco 49ers
"If you ask me that in [2019], I really just had no idea what it meant to play in a Super Bowl and what it meant to actually be there," Greenlaw said. "Now going back this second time, you understand how you might not get this chance ever again. I'm thinking this is the norm, but no, you (might not) get this opportunity again.
"The main thing is, the guys you're working with and fighting with on the field you don't get a second chance to go through that again so you just want to make sure you leave it all out on the field."
The 49ers, who had a 20-10 lead over the Chiefs with just over six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, were so close to hoisting the franchise's sixth Vince Lombardi Trophy in Miami Gardens. Fla. four years ago.
In speaking to reporters before practice on Thursday, Warner said San Francisco's previous Super Bowl collapse "scarred" him for life and that he will never get too high or too low in a game again after initially believing during the game the 49ers were about to be crowned champions.
Those painful memories, plus a fresh perspective on how difficult it is to repeat this level of success, will allow Warner and Greenlaw to approach their latest Super Bowl appearance with the right mindset.