The San Francisco 49ers didn’t get the ending they hoped for in 2025, but they came close-despite being battered by injuries to some of their biggest stars. One of those stars, All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner, was nearly back in action before the season came to a close. His practice window was officially opened ahead of the 49ers’ Divisional Round matchup against the Seattle Seahawks, giving fans a glimmer of hope that he might return for the playoff push.
Ultimately, Warner didn’t suit up for that game. But according to Warner himself, he was ready to roll if the Niners had advanced.
Speaking on the St. Brown Podcast earlier this week, Warner didn’t mince words about his mindset heading into what could’ve been an NFC Championship showdown against the Rams.
“I would have been out there, NFC Championship, putting belt to the Rams,” Warner said. “But that’s all for next year. We’ll never know what that would have looked like.”
Even though he only logged a single practice that week, Warner was clearly itching to get back on the field. And while the decision to keep him sidelined was likely the right call-especially considering the nature of his injury, a dislocated ankle suffered back in Week 6-it’s hard not to wonder what kind of impact he could’ve made in a high-stakes playoff matchup.
That injury marked a turning point, not just for Warner, but for the 49ers’ season as a whole. This was the first time in Warner’s career that he didn’t play at least 16 games, and it came during a season where he was playing some of his best football before going down.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t shy away from calling Warner’s injury a defining moment. It came just after the team had already lost star edge rusher Nick Bosa to a torn ACL, and the hits kept coming.
Rookie defensive lineman Mykel Williams also tore his ACL midseason. Brandon Aiyuk, a potential difference-maker on offense, never took the field.
Rookie wideout Ricky Pearsall was limited to half the season and didn’t look like himself when he did play. The 49ers weren’t just banged up-they were gutted.
“Yeah, definitely, [the Warner injury was a turning point],” Shanahan said. “I thought it could [be] right after losing Bosa, then we had a huge win with the Rams at the Rams. I want to say maybe the next week we lost a tough game to Tampa that I felt like we should have won, but we didn’t get it done, and then we lost Fred in it, which was like the second impact that was like, ‘Alright, can we overcome this?’”
Despite the setbacks, the 49ers never lost two games in a row all season-a testament to the resilience Shanahan kept seeing in his locker room. After Warner went down, the team bounced back with a win over Atlanta.
They kept grinding. They beat Houston.
They took down Carolina despite some early turnovers. They handled Cleveland on the road, then showed up strong on Monday Night in Indianapolis.
They won a shootout against Chicago. And just like that, they had rattled off six straight wins to close the season, after starting the year 3-0.
It wasn’t always pretty, and it certainly wasn’t easy. But that never-lose-two-in-a-row mentality carried them all the way into the postseason.
“You could just feel every time we lost a game, this team was a little different,” Shanahan said. “And the fact that we never lost two in a row, I think, is what allowed us to do all that stuff… what really allowed us to have a chance for the one seed and to get in the playoffs.”
That mindset helped the 49ers weather the storm, but there’s no question that missing Fred Warner-and Bosa-changed the ceiling for this team. Warner’s sideline-to-sideline speed, leadership, and instincts are the heartbeat of the defense. Without him, the 49ers had to get creative and dig deep into their depth chart just to stay afloat.
Now, with both Warner and Bosa expected back healthy in 2026, the outlook changes dramatically. This team isn’t far off.
They’ve shown they can hang tough when the odds are stacked against them. But next season, if they can stay healthy, we might finally see what this roster looks like at full strength.
And if Warner’s words are any indication, he’s already got his sights set on redemption.