49ers’ Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk still sour about Eagles loss: ‘Feels like something got stolen’

The 49ers’ season ended nearly two weeks ago, but some of its stars are still not ready to let go of the team’s loss in the NFC Championship game to the Eagles.

RB Christian McCaffrey, echoing teammate Nick Bosa’s comments and wishing both teams could lose Super Bowl 57, petitioned the NFL to allow teams to activate a third quarterback.

“It feels like something was stolen from you,” McCaffrey told Kay Adams on her show Up and Adams, adding, “Hopefully they change that rule.”

At the same time, McCaffrey said he didn’t want to apologize but wished the 49ers could return that game with everyone healthy.

San Francisco lost Brock Purdy to the Eagles in the first half to a serious elbow injury and later saw Josh Johnson retire with a concussion. Purdy already played in place of injured Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo.

MORE: Watch Super Bowl 57 Live With fuboTV (Free Trial)

The rookie had to get back into the game from Johnson’s injury but couldn’t throw the ball, forcing the 49ers to run the ball repeatedly.

WR Deebo Samuel seemed confident that the 49ers could have won had they been able to throw the ball.

“We wanted to attack their DBs the whole game,” Samuel said on ESPN’s “First Take,” adding, “They quickly trigger certain things that they see in the movie, so we had stuff from what we knew that.” it was them. I bite off.”

San Francisco’s offense didn’t have much of a chance of executing that game plan, although it’s worth noting that the offense didn’t get very far on Purdy’s only healthy drive to start the game.

MORE: Why Joe Montana thinks 49ers should start Jimmy Garoppolo over Trey Lance after Brock Purdy’s injury

WR Brandon Aiyuk believes the Chiefs will do what the 49ers couldn’t against the Eagles.

Aiyuk told the SFNiners Podcast that the Chiefs would “unmask” the Eagles in Super Bowl 57 and claimed that Philadelphia was “extremely lucky” in the NFC Championship game.

“They talk about being a good defense. I’m not sure,” Aiyuk said, adding, echoing Samuel in predicting the Chiefs’ passing game, “which will uncover what we thought we could uncover.”

If he hasn’t already made his thoughts clear, Aiyuk said he would “take everything I own” and bet on the Chiefs winning on Sunday. Kansas City probably isn’t thrilled that Aiyuk is giving the Eagles even more bulletin board footage.

MORE: 49ers star Nick Bosa not interested in Patrick Mahomes-Jalen Hurts Super Bowl match: ‘I won’t be watching’

Even kicker Robbie Gould chimed in Thursday, saying the Chiefs could take care of business defensively if they “get Jalen Hurts to play quarterback.”

While the game might have turned out differently had the 49ers been healthy at quarterback, that’s the kind of rhetoric you typically have here after a close loss rather than a 31-7 loss.

San Francisco has lost back-to-back NFC Championship games, and some of the key figures heading into next season appear motivated to take that next step in 2023.

For the time being, they eat their meals extra salty.