Losing the Super Bowl can be many things, but at the very top of the list — depressing.
At least, that’s how Deebo Samuel would describe it.
Amidst a lost season, the San Francisco 49ers All-Pro wide receiver recently reflected on his team’s two Super Bowl losses to the Chiefs — and did so during an appearance on the St. Brown Podcast with Amon-Ra and Equanimeous. The latter of the two St. Brown brothers asked Samuel to pick what was worse: losing an NFC Championship Game or the Super Bowl.
“Not gonna lie, losing a Super Bowl, bro, it puts you in depression,” Samuel explained. “You go months without talking to people, [not] wanting to be seen… Losing the Super Bowl is one of the worst feelings — like ever. Think about it in our position, bro; we just went through camp; we just went through the whole season; we got here; we lose.”
And just like that, you’re thrust back into preparation just three weeks later.
“And you’re about to do it all over again,” he said. “It’s just like… losing the Super Bowl is crazy. I lost in the Super Bowl twice to the same team.”
That won’t be a problem for Samuel this season, as the 49ers have officially been eliminated from playoff contention and will not stand in the Kansas City Chiefs’ way of a three-peat.
That said, that hangover of losing a Super Bowl — and the subsequent depression from doing so — lingers.
Seemingly, the weight of those Super Bowl losses doesn’t just disappear with the calendar change — it stays with you, festers in the locker room, echoing through the offseason and shapes the very essence of your team’s future.
You can hear it in Samuel’s voice.
And perhaps you can see it in San Francisco’s play this past season.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.