Kyle Shanahan Says 49ers 'Were Good Enough to Win' Super Bowl vs. Chiefs

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said during the team's State of the Franchise event (h/t Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area) that his team was "good enough" to win Super Bowl LIV, which resulted in a 31-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs last February.

"I know we were good enough to win that Super Bowl and we didn't, and that's something we have to live with," Shanahan said.

"And that's why the state of the franchise right now is we got to get right back to that moment. We got to get right back to that fourth quarter and get to have a lead, and we got to finish the job."

The 49ers went 13-3, earned the NFC's No. 1 seed and outscored the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers 64-30 in the playoffs to reach the Super Bowl. San Francisco held a 20-10 lead midway through the fourth quarter but allowed 21 points in the final seven minutes in the 11-point defeat.

"We had as good of an opportunity as you can ever have to be a champion, and we came up just short," Shanahan said. "So that's by all means what we're going for this year."

The 49ers are third on Caesars Palace's Super Bowl LV odds ledger at 15-2 to win it all in 2021 behind the Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens, who finished 14-2 last year. They top the NFC championship odds at 7-2.

The 49ers figure to be in the thick of the NFC playoff race for the conference crown once again.

They did lose a few key players (e.g., left tackle Joe Staley to retirement, wideout Emmanuel Sanders in free agency to the New Orleans Saints and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner in a deal with the Indianapolis Colts).

However, they also traded for seven-time Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams and replaced Buckner with a potential star in first-round pick Javon Kinlaw out of South Carolina.

The 49ers used another first-round pick to take Arizona State wideout Brandon Aiyuk, who should replace Sanders as one of the team's top wideouts.

Elsewhere, many of the pieces that helped the team land in the Super Bowl are headed back to San Francisco, including tight end George Kittle, defensive linemen Nick Bosa and Arik Armstead, and future Hall of Fame cornerback Richard Sherman.

Plus, San Francisco appears to have a manageable schedule, at least on paper.

Per football analyst Warren Sharp, San Francisco's strength of schedule based on sportsbooks over/under win totals for the 2020 season gives the 49ers the 17th-easiest slate in the league.

It will be challenging given future games against the Saints, Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks (twice), all of whom made the playoffs last year and can do so again this season.

But the 49ers are largely intact from last year and can get the job done against those teams and others as they look to make their eighth Super Bowl in franchise history.