Niners Plan To Move Forward As Humble, Motivated Team
By Jerrell Richardson
After their 34-0 drubbing of the New York Jets this past week, San Francisco finds themselves in familiar territory. They started off the season with impressive, back-to-back wins, then faced a lesser opponent. With a clear advantage on the football field, all they had to do was execute their game plan to win, yet saw the Minnesota Vikings beat them up and down the field. Head coach Jim Harbaugh has made it clear that to avoid a similar let down the team will have to remember their humble beginnings, look at how far they have come from NFC West doormat to one of the best teams in the league, and keep that same fire and desire has helped transform them into the talk of the league.
Motivation
This time around the team faces the Buffalo Bills who, like the Minnesota Vikings, have no business beating San Francisco. The Bills do have plenty of play makers on both sides of the ball, and if taken lightly they can knock the 49ers right back off their pedestal. However, the Bills can blame the Vikings for grabbing the full attention of San Francisco and giving the 49ers a quick reminder of how short lived success can be, especially for a team that gets complacent. With the loss to the Vikings still close to the front of their mind, they will use that, and not the praise from their recent victory, as motivation this upcoming week and beyond.
Everyone Can Improve
In last week's post-game speech, Harbaugh made sure to start getting it into the minds' of his players early so that they would not rest on their laurels, and time will tell if they got the message. When Harbaugh said that he would like to improve on everything from last week, it was not just a cliché, despite the fact that their win was called by many the most dominant performance of the season. San Francisco has yet to reach their full potential. To consistently have a spot at the NFL elite table, they must reach this potential, which can only be achieved through the want to continue to get better week in and week out. Fortunately, they will have something extra to keep them motivated, at least physically...
New Weight Room
When the players returned from their flight home, they were greeted by a brand new weight room. Harbaugh pointed out that the new room will serve as a symbol of a team that is ready and has the tools this season to continue to work hard towards their goals. Jonathan Goodwin posted a picture of the room to his Instagram account and shared the same enthusiasm as the rest of the team, showing that the players will have no problem with motivation this week and for the rest of the season for that matter. For a team that needed very little to motivate them after a disappointing finish to last year, they have received the mental and physical spark to keep the focused and on track, so they just need to put it all together on Sunday.
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Jerrell Richardson is a Bay Area native who due to a college career at San Diego State University has grown an appreciation for all things sports related in California. His heart will always remain in San Francisco though where he currently resides and covers everything from the San Francisco 49ers and Giants to the San Jose Sharks and California Bears Baseball team. His work can be found on Examiner.com.
