SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- San Francisco safety Donte Whitner knows the history of Super Bowl losers, and it's not good. So maybe that's why he doesn't buy into it. But it's not just that Whitner believes the 49ers, the team that lost Super Bowl XLVII, won't submit to history.
It's that he insists they can make history of their own.
"We feel like we're not only the team to beat in this conference, but the whole, entire NFL," he said after Tuesday's practice. "We have to go out, prove it and continue to work, but that's just the way we feel."
Good. They should. It's training camp, and nobody has lost a game.
But history tells a different story about these 49ers. It says they have virtually no shot of reaching a second straight Super Bowl, with their chances much better of reaching the playoffs. Let the record show that, not including the 49ers, four of the previous six teams to lose Super Bowls reached the postseason the following year, but only two -- the 2009 Arizona Cards and last year's New England Patriots -- won playoff games.
Let it also show that no Super Bowl loser since the 1993 Buffalo Bills returned to the league championship game the next season.
I didn't have to recite those numbers to Whitner. He's aware of them. He's also aware of the talent and depth that surrounds him in practice, and you don't need a roster to know the 49ers are loaded. But the New England Patriots were loaded in 2008, too. Then Tom Brady bowed out in the season opener. The 2011 Green Bay Packers were supposed to be built for the long haul following their Super Bowl XLV defeat of Pittsburgh. Then they lost their playoff opener.
"So why the optimism?" I asked Whitner.
"This is our third year together -- offense, defense, special teams," he said. "We're still working on the small details, but everybody has knowledge of all three phases. We feel like we have top-notch players -- top players in the NFL -- and the icing on the cake is the coaching staff.
"This is a staff that continues to get us ready, game-in-and-game-out. And with our scheme, the amount of time they put in, the understanding of what calls are coming, what teams are tying to do against us and coaching players up ... that's why I feel we're the best team in the National Football League."
"So you're the team to defy history?" I said.
"Yes," Whitner answered.
Maybe. His point is that San Francisco has momentum as well as a deep roster. It went to the conference championship game in 2011 and lost in overtime. Then the 49ers went to Super Bowl XLVII and wound up five yards short of victory. So, it figures the next step is to the head of the class -- at least, that's the way Whitner sees it.
"If anything," he said, "we're motivated by the [Super Bowl] loss and the way that we lost the football game. Going into that football game we were confident we were the best team. But we didn't feel like we played our best football, and we feel we had our opportunity.
"The year before we made it to the conference championship game, and we lost. Last year made it to the Super Bowl, and we lost. So it's like these are stepping stones. This year we look forward to going back."
