SANTA CLARA -- There has been a lot of talk about the 49ers' supposed Super Bowl "window" this offseason, and for good reason.
San Francisco has appeared in three NFC Championship Games over its last four NFL seasons, with a Super Bowl appearance in 2019 and back-to-back conference title losses in 2021 and 2022. And with every loss, the 49ers' star-studded core goes back to the drawing board to plan for another season where they'll be one year older and one less year under contract.
Kyle Juszczyk is part of that nucleus, and while there's always a sense of urgency to bring a championship back to the Bay, the fullback believes that doesn't mean there's a reason to panic.
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"Other younger guys, yeah, I think at some point that [sense of urgency] needs to be communicated [to them]. They need to feel that," Juszczyk said Thursday after practice. "But the other part of me kind of hates that word 'window,' as far as a championship window, only because I think year in and year out, you see guys that you don’t expect that step up and end up being stars."
The clock is ticking for some 49ers veterans when it comes to winning San Francisco's elusive sixth Super Bowl. But Juszczyk pointed to young, impact players, such as linebacker Dre Greenlaw and safety Talanoa Hufanga, who have what it takes to ensure the franchise's winning standard remains -- even if its star players of today eventually have to move on.
"... I’m sure when we drafted Dre Greenlaw in the fifth round, we weren't expecting him to be -- he’s already been like an All-Pro linebacker, and he wasn’t in that window of our nucleus of players at one point," Juszczyk said. "And then he goes out there, plays and shows that he can be one of those guys as part of that nucleus and in that window. So all I’m really getting at is we don’t even know what guys could be part of that nucleus for this next window, so I try not to get too wrapped up in that."
While Juszczyk doesn't necessarily enjoy the term "window," the veteran realizes there is some truth behind its intended meaning as he enters his 11th NFL season and seventh with the 49ers. Once again, San Francisco has fielded a championship-caliber roster, and, in 2023, perhaps the most talented group to date. To see the team's potential fall short of hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy again this season certainly would be a letdown, most of all for the players who know how difficult it is to reach and go deep into the playoffs.
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"There definitely is urgency there, and having been so close, I think, drives that urgency even more," Juszczyk said. "I don’t know -- then again, I feel conflicted even saying that because there’s always urgency whether you’ve been close or not, whether you’re Year 11 or not, we’re all here to do the same thing. We’re here to hold up that trophy at the end of the year. And I think the hardest part is getting there and then knowing that you don’t get to just snap your fingers and you’re back in the NFC Championship.
"It’s like, we’ve got to go through this whole thing again."
George Kittle explained that realization earlier in training camp, when he said the window "could be closing" and that it's something the team's veterans have discussed.
"I think that's something that our team is very aware of," Kittle said. "We have a lot of highly paid players on this team who have earned that money, and you can only pay so many guys. And we know that some of those guys are at the end of their contracts, the end of the guarantees, and that's when things start to move.
"So yes, we're very aware of that. I don't think it's something that, hey, we have a team meeting, or like, 'Hey, this is it.' But our vet guys, we understand that. It's something we kind of talked about in OTAs. It'll be mentioned throughout training camp. We're aware of that."
But left tackle Trent Williams, who briefly considered retirement after the 49ers' NFC Championship loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in January, isn't overly concerned with the monkey on San Francisco's back.
"How long the window lasts? I don't worry about it," Williams said last week. "The Super Bowl is at the top of everybody's priority list right now. Worrying about when the window closes really does nothing for us right now. That's like worrying about when you're going to die, right? It's going to close eventually, but what's the point in looking forward to it?
"I'm going to come in every day and just work how I did yesterday and look forward to getting one percent better every day, and eventually you want to hold up that trophy. And if it doesn't happen, reset, recalibrate and approach it next year with the same mindset."
Despite some heartbreaking losses over the last few seasons, the 49ers' postseason experience gives them a leg up in understanding the grind of an 18-week campaign that, for them, has extended beyond the regular season in recent years. They know what it takes to be one of the last few teams standing, and it all begins this season with Week 1 on Sept. 10 in Pittsburgh.
"That’s kind of something that we’ve stressed, [coach Kyle Shanahan's] stressed in the locker room is getting out to a fast start, because those games really do end up mattering when it comes to seeding and where you’re playing in the playoffs and all that kind of stuff," Juszczyk said. "And we’re a team that’s fortunate enough that we can think like that. We’re thinking about how these games Week 1 are going to affect us in Week 20."
Super Bowl LVIII is 192 days away. And while the first game of the season will set the tone for the road to Las Vegas, what happens now in training camp sets the table for that first course come Week 1. It's on the veterans to make sure everyone is ready -- including themselves.
Because as Juszczyk noted, there's no telling who could end up being the difference-maker along the way.
"... We definitely have a team that has a chance to win a championship, and we have to make sure that all the young guys that maybe aren’t stars yet understand that and that some of them are going to be guys that step up and become those stars," Juszczyk said.