Kelly: What the 49ers Winning the Super Bowl Would Say About the Dolphins
The San Francisco 49ers have been climbing the NFL's mountaintop for the past five seasons.
The storied NFL franchise competing in the Super Bowl on Sunday accomplished everything a football team can achieve other than win the big game.
They've undergone a scorched-earth restart, which led to the franchise making it to the NFC Championship Game four times in five seasons.
They've swapped quarterbacks three times in the past three seasons, and still produced one of the NFL's top-rated passers.
The 49ers have arguably the best roster in football and a top-shelf coaching staff that continues to get picked from when it comes to coordinators being elevated to head coach positions.
San Francisco has become the gold standard of how an NFL franchise should be built, but they haven't won on the biggest stage.
If they do so by beating the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, redeeming that painful fourth-quarter collapse to the Chiefs in 2019, San Francisco's rags-to-riches story will inject hope into franchises like the Miami Dolphins, who seemingly are building off the 49ers blueprint.
THE DOLPHINS-49ERS CONNECTIONS
Mike McDaniel grew up in the NFL right alongside Kyle Shanahan when he served as a ball boy during their teenage years with the Denver Broncos and accompanied Shanahan to every one of his coaching stops, becoming his right-hand man.
The Dolphins and 49ers run a similar offense, one that features a balanced attack that feasts on explosive plays and speed, and uses motion to force defenses to declare their intentions.
Miami and San Francisco both have dynamic playmakers on offense, and young quarterbacks who rely heavily on timing, accurate passes and precision throws.
They each have physical defenses that are designed to harass the quarterback without blitzing and create turnovers.
While the personnel of both rosters differs some, and injuries at times have impacted each team's performance (see the Dolphins' final three games, all losses, for an example), these two franchises are about as close as any two in the NFL can be when comparing philosophies, coaching and personnel.
WHAT A 49ERS WIN MIGHT MEAN FOR THE DOLPHINS
That's why San Francisco's performance Sunday in football's biggest game potentially could have influence on what the Dolphins do this offseason, and how General Manager Chris Grier and head coach Mike McDaniel parlay last year's success into 2024.
An embarrassing loss by the 49ers might be a sign for the Dolphins to blow it all up and start over because Kansas City remains the gold standard of the AFC, the conference the Dolphins reside in.
Miami's roster needs to be retooled this offseason, or better yet, re-financed because of the oncoming cap crisis (Miami is $52 million over the projected salary cap and must purge the roster some to balance the books) the Dolphins' business practice the past couple of seasons has created, and if the 49ers can't get to the promise land by beating Patrick Mahomes and dethroning the Kansas City Chiefs, what hope does Miami have of doing it in the near future?
A win by the 49ers would inject hope into South Florida because it's proof that the blueprint Miami is using works, and that the individuals in charge of constructng this title contender aren't erecting something that would need to be demolished quickly.
The 49ers winning it all would serve as evidence that quarterbacks who aren't Patrick Mahomes, or Tom Brady or Peyton Manning can take their team to the mountaintop in this fantasy-football-friendly era of American's sport.
While Brock Purdy, who happens to be the top-rated quarterback in the NFL in only his second season, is no slouch, he's far from the silver-spoon-holding quarterback crowd of former Elite 11 quarterbacks who eventually go on to become first-round picks.
Much like this entire 49ers roster, Purdy got it out the mud, as the young kids say, and has earned everything he's accomplished these past two seasons.
His success Sunday could give us hope that Tua Tagovailoa can lead a Dolphins team with a strong running game, a reliable offensive line, and a forceful defense to the promised land in the near future.
The Dolphins have plenty of work ahead to rebuild last year's roster, which delivered 11 wins before flatlining at the end of the season, but a 49ers victory would serve as proof it won't be in vein.
