For five consecutive weeks, Fred Warner and the 49ers were used to high-spirited vibes in the locker room after defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers, Los Angeles Rams, New York Giants, Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys.
But when their perfect 5-0 record was shattered following a 2-point, final-second loss to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, Warner described what the mood was like in the locker room after experiencing their first defeat of the 2023 NFL season.
"The vibes in the locker room after obviously were not the highest," Warner told his wife and co-host Sydney Warner on "The Warner House." "It was down. You get in there and guys are sitting at their lockers, looking down. We talked about it going into the game, we knew it was going to be a hard-fought battle, but we knew it was a game that we should've won."
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Warner admitted that the team grew so accustomed to winning that the loss kind of threw them off a bit.
While Sunday's game could be viewed as a humbling lesson, Warner believes the 49ers set a standard for themselves to perform better. And after experiencing a loss again for the first time since January, the All-Pro linebacker doesn't want to be in that situation again.
"Another thing people don't realize is we're not used to losing, which is a great thing," Warner continued. "It should sting because we're not used to losing. If we were used to losing we would go in there like, 'Oh, well. Let's hope we get them next time.' No, the standard has been winning every single week. So to start the season 5-0 and then you lose a game, it's like, 'Oh my god, I forgot what that feeling was like.' We hadn't lost a game since the NFC Championship Game last year. So it's good for us.
"You get scars in your career, you get scars as you go through hard things. I feel like I already have plenty of scars, I don't need any more scars. But that little scar right there allows me to have that feeling so then later on in the season, when you're in that moment, you're like, 'Aw, I don't want to feel that way again. I got to make something happen.' That's not to say I wasn't thinking that way already, but you just learn from it. It's a lesson, never a loss."
San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco (5-1) will get an extra day to prep for its Week 7 meeting with the Minnesota Vikings (2-4) under the bright lights of "Monday Night Football" at U.S. Bank Stadium. After an eye-opening loss in Cleveland, the 49ers will look to get back in the win column.