San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw is a player who lives on the edge.
Greenlaw’s aggressiveness and extreme physicality, which sets the tone for the 49ers’ defense, can often draw the ire of referees.
However, he hasn’t taken a bigger risk than the decision he made in the divisional round of the playoffs in San Francisco’s narrow loss to the Green Bay Packers, when he intercepted Jordan Love for the second time and sparked a 24-21 comeback completed.
Creating a huge scare for his team, he unnecessarily rushed the field and tried to avoid defenders in the final seconds in an attempt to score, risking a fumble that would have given the Packers another chance.
“I think he’s happy that it ended that way and I don’t think he’ll ever make that mistake again,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said the day after the game. ‘We didn’t get too hard on him, but he could see how big the deal was.
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“We are very grateful that he made the play, but things can change very quickly and you can ruin some of the best plays ever if you give a team even more of a chance. The way the game went, we didn’t have to give them any more chances. So I guess he learned his lesson. Hopefully we never have to deal with that again.’
But Shanahan and the Niners have faced significantly more stress since then, with their postseason campaign taking the drama to new heights in last Sunday’s NFC Championship Game with the Detroit Lions.
The 49ers fell behind 24-7 in a stunning first half, but then staged a remarkable second-half comeback that tied San Francisco’s 2012 NFC title game record. The Niners scored 27 unanswered points en route to an incredible 34-31 win, shredding defense in the first half and stepping up with a series of huge stops to secure the win.
Their high-wire postseason epitomized the spirit in which Greenlaw plays the game. San Francisco spent the entire NFC playoffs on the brink. Now, after winning the George Halas Trophy and watching the confetti fall on their home stadium, they have a chance to win the one that really counts in a Super Bowl 58 rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Greenlaw is one of only eight players on the active roster who played in Super Bowl 54 four years ago, when the Chiefs erased a 10-point deficit in the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter and broke the 49ers’ hearts.
Greenlaw celebrates a stop in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship Game vs Detroit
Greenlaw is preparing for Sunday’s huge Super Bowl showdown against the Chiefs in Las Vegas
As they get reacquainted with Patrick Mahomes and Co., he and fellow linebacker Fred Warner, who had an interception in that Super Bowl, will be crucial to the 49ers’ hopes for revenge.
All-Pro Warner, considered the best linebacker in the game, and Greenlaw do an excellent job of taking the middle of the field away from opposing offenses. Against Detroit, however, they struggled to do so for much of the game and will have to return to their usual form when facing a Chiefs offense that is not as explosive as in recent years but relies heavily on attacking up the middle with tight end Travis. Kelce.
While Kelce mostly faced questions about his relationship with Taylor Swift during Super Bowl week, the only concern for San Francisco’s defense will be how to stop the connection between Mahomes and Kelce, who looked renewed in their victory in the AFC Championship Game. about the Baltimore Ravens. Kelce caught all 11 of his targets from Mahomes for 126 yards and a touchdown.
The answer will undoubtedly involve Warner and Greenlaw. In addition to being the vocal leader of the defense, Warner serves as the eye in the sky, demonstrating an innate ability to read defenses, make adjustments, and place himself and others in the right spots to create throwing lanes for taking away quarterbacks.
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Mahomes (right) and Kelce (left) will have their work cut out for them against Greenlaw and the 49ers
Because both Warner and Greenlaw each possess a blend of awareness and athleticism that few at their positions can match, they form a duo that expands the options for a defensive play-caller and takes them away from offense.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, defensive end Randy Gregory said of their versatility: “Having linebackers that can do pretty much everything, cover guys, blitz, makes everyone’s job on defense a lot easier and a lot more fun, a lot of different packages you can do.”
While the 49ers obviously don’t need any motivation heading into the biggest game in American sports, the tenacity that both Greenlaw and Warner show on the field will certainly be a driving force if San Francisco is to rise to the challenge of putting Mahomes on its favorite stage defeat.
“They’re going to come out every game, every minute of every down and be themselves,” cornerback Deommodore Lenoir said when asked about their intensity. “Playing alongside them really just motivates me as a person, as a player to bring that fire and that intensity to take the whole defense to the next level.”
Drafting Warner and Greenlaw in back-to-back years (2018 and 2019) continued the 49ers’ strong track record of unearthing top talent at linebacker, with the pair accepting the torch from San Francisco’s previous elite duo at the position, Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman , who patrolled center together for the Niners from 2010 to 2014.
Willis, a finalist for the Hall of Fame this year, could hardly be more impressed with the way Warner and Greenlaw have passed on the baton, believing they have taken what he and Bowman have done to another level.
“The next generation that comes after you and after you,” he told talkSPORT. “It’s about taking what was before you, making it your own and making it that much better. And I feel like Dre and Fred are doing that and it’s a joy to watch, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they can pull it off this year.”
However, Greenlaw doesn’t believe he and Warner have quite reached that level.
“It’s a great honor to play for the team they (Willis and Bowman) played for and for people to see the comparison,” he said exclusively. “I know we still have a long way to go to reach the standard they set: being the best in the world.
‘We work every day to make people recognize that we are a great duo, just like them. We’re not as great as them or something. It’s an incredible feeling, the gratitude for Fred really just for being a leader and helping me, playing next to him and running around the field with him.”
Willis and Bowman were never quite able to make it happen with the 49ers. They lost in the Super Bowl to the Baltimore Ravens in the 2012 season before then falling to defeat in a classic NFC Championship Game with the Seattle Seahawks.
Greenlaw takes down Detroit Lions breakout star Jahmyr Gibbs during the NFC title game
Greenlaw’s heroics have put the 49ers in a position where they are just one win away from a first Super Bowl title since 1994.
If he and Warner are instrumental in a win over the Chiefs, they would certainly rise above Willis and Bowman in the ranks of great 49er linebackers for good.
Greenlaw has shown great foresight in the postseason, predicting he would get a second interception during a conversation with linebacker coach Johnny Holland during the Packers game.
After the match, he expressed his belief that more game-changing moves are in store.
“I feel like I’m due for a new one too,” Greenlaw said.
In this most dramatic of postseason runs, who would dare bet against one of the key heroes of the 49ers’ final surge to the Super Bowl that delivered the title-winning moment?