Fred Warner Knows the 49ers Will Win a Super Bowl, It's Just a Matter of 'When'

No 49ers fans have heard that phrase contain a figure greater than 39 despite being on the verge of multiple rings throughout the tenures of both Jim Harbaugh and Kyle Shanahan.

The San Francisco 49ers have come close to winning multiple Super Bowls in recent years, but they have yet to add another Lombardi Trophy to their collection. Despite the heartbreak, linebacker Fred Warner remains optimistic about his team's chances of claiming a championship in the near future.

During his Wednesday evening appearance on NFL Network's The Insiders, Warner said while he doesn't know exactly which big game his team will eventually win, he knows they'll emerge victorious in one of them down the line.

"I've watched [Super Bowl 58] several times and seen different plays we could have made to win that game," Warner said. "You just gotta be better for next time... it's not a matter of if, in my mind, but a matter of when, when we do go win one."

The 49ers lost Super Bowl 58 to the Kansas City Chiefs last year, letting what may have been their best chance at earning a Lombardi Trophy under Shanahan slip away in the process. Brock Purdy and Co. once again find themselves atop the NFC's Super Bowl 59 odds leaderboard, though, and are keen on playing for the league's biggest prize versus the Chiefs or another AFC foe in February 2025.

When asked if he had "gotten over" the team's harrowing February defeat yet, Warner couldn't lie. The three-time All-Pro and Pro-Bowl participant admitted he is still stuck on that contest and Super Bowl 54, where the 49ers gave up 21 unanswered points in the final 6:53 of regulation and fell 31-20 to Kansas City to conclude the 2019 season.

"I'm still not over the first one," Warner said. "Those things stay with you. I think about those games all the time, especially the plays I could have made to help us win those games. I'm not fully over it for sure, that one is gonna sting for a long time... those things stay with you. In this league, you earn scars... you face adversity. Losing a Super Bowl is as big of adversity as you could hit. It stays with you. It makes you stronger. It makes you better. I know I'll be better from it."

Warner then said he considers the key to getting over the hump to be finding more guys who are finishers, and believes new defensive coordinator Nick Sorenson will help his unit "shore up some of those things we were kind of lacking in last year." If San Francisco successfully cleans up the minor issues in their already stellar operation, they just may make good on Warner's claim this upcoming season.