Several 49ers players hung their heads low while trying to find the right words days after their heartbreaking Super Bowl LVIII loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Three months later, 49ers star tackle Trent Williams is looking back at it with a different perspective and a much more positive attitude.
"That's the biggest loss you can take but at the end of the day, you look at it for what it is," Williams said on the latest episode of "The Shop." "I'm a realist. There were two teams left out of 32 teams. Two teams fighting for that one trophy. Yeah, it sucks but you got to look back and say, at the end of the day, it was a successful season. I used to think, just get me to the Super Bowl! I don't care if we win or lose. I just wanted to feel that atmosphere. I had never won a playoff game in the first 10 years of my career.
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"So to even see and think about the Super Bowl, the NFC Championship -- I just want to feel it. I put so much into this game, I sacrificed so much. I haven't felt the pinnacle yet. I wanted to be there. I just wanted to experience it. Then when you get there, you understand it's just another football game and now, you want to win that game as bad as ever.
"I take it in strides. I done had obstacles and I think that's just another one of them."
The 49ers have dominated the NFC West for the past few seasons, but sustained success is new to Williams.
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The 11-time Pro Bowl tackle spent the first 10 seasons of his career with the Washington Commanders (formerly known as the Redskins). Washington made the playoffs in 2012 and 2015 but lost in the Wild Card round both times.
Since joining the 49ers in 2020, San Francisco has made it to the NFC Championship Game three times and the Super Bowl once.
While the bar for a "successful" season certainly has changed for Williams, he isn't content with just a Super Bowl appearance and is hungry for more. That hunger will carry over into the 2024 season where he and his 49ers teammates are itching to get back to the big stage -- and win it all.
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