The 49ers may be the best and most talented team in football as they prepare for the upcoming 2024 NFL campaign.

They boast a complete roster filled with stars at just about every position. Brock Purdy is one of the best quarterbacks in the game. Christian McCaffrey may be the most talented running back; if he’s not that, he could be the best all-around weapon at the position. It’s hard to beat the wideout tandem of Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk. George Kittle is one of the greatest tight ends in the game. On the defensive side, Nick Bosa was voted the Defensive Player of the Year in 2022 and is always a candidate to take home that award. Fred Warner is arguably the top inside linebacker in the NFL. They have a head coach in Kyle Shanahan who might be the most influential offensive mind in professional football.

OK, you get it, the 49ers are good. But what makes them so unique is you could have said similar things about their organization at various points between 2011 and 2023.

San Francisco has appeared in seven NFC Championship Games and three Super Bowls since 2011. Perhaps more impressive than that, four quarterbacks have taken the 49ers to the NFC title game, while three different signal-callers have led them to the Super Bowl. That’s right, Alex Smith was the starter when the 49ers lost in overtime to the Giants in the 2011 NFC title game. Colin Kaepernick was San Fransisco’s starting quarterback in that same game over the next two seasons. One year after losing to New York at home, Kaepernick helped the 49ers avenge that loss by defeating the Falcons on the road to clinch a trip to Super Bowl XLVII. Jim Harbaugh was the 49ers head coach, but he lost to his brother, John, the Ravens head coach, in that historic sibling matchup. The 49ers lost another tough NFC title matchup the following season–this time at Seattle–before the water got a bit murky in the Bay Area over the next few seasons.

Harbaugh, hired as head coach in 2011, reportedly became embroiled in a power struggle with the front office in 2014 and decided to leave after an 8-8 season. San Francisco then went from a high-profile hire to an unknown in Jim Tomsula as its head coach in 2015. But he was out after a forgettable 5-11 campaign. The 49ers went the high-profile route again and hired the always-controversial Chip Kelly as their head coach in 2016.  San Francisco completely bottomed out under Kelly, going 2-14. Kelly was out after that season and replaced by Shanahan. The first two years under Shanahan weren’t pretty–the 49ers finished 6-10 and 4-12, respectively–but the front office stuck with its young head coach and was rewarded when he guided San Francisco to Super Bowl LIV following the 2019 campaign. Jimmy Garoppolo, who arrived in 2017, was the 49ers starting quarterback by this point. San Francisco lost a tough one to the Chiefs, but the future certainly looked bright. Unfortunately, an injury to Garoppolo derailed the 2020 campaign, as the 49ers finished 6-10. But Handsome Jimmy G guided the 49ers to the NFC title game once more in 2021 before they lost a heartbreaker on the road to the Rams. Trey Lance, who San Francisco selected third in the 2021 NFL Draft, was named the starting quarterback during the 2022 training camp. However, he suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Week 2 and was replaced by Garoppolo. San Francisco was having yet another promising season when Garoppolo sustained a serious foot injury. Would the 49ers season crumble into the bay? No. In stepped rookie Brock Purdy, the last guy picked in the 2022 NFL Draft–Mr. Irrelevant. The 49ers just kept winning with Purdy as their quarterback and never stopped until he sustained an injury in the NFC title game at Philadelphia. The attrition at the position was too much by that point, as the Eagles flew all the way to the Super Bowl.

But the future was again bright in the Bay Area. Last year, Purdy guided a 49ers team, one that was considered a huge favorite to win it all, to the NFC Championship Game where it survived the up-and-coming Lions and clinched a spot in Super Bowl LVIII. San Francisco again faced the Chiefs and again lost a heartbreaker, this time in overtime.

As the 49ers prepare for their 2024 campaign, their number one goal is to bring home the organization’s record-tying sixth Lombardi Trophy. It would be San Francisco’s first title in 30 years, but what if it doesn’t happen again this season? What if the 49ers come up short once more? What if this era–the one that started with the arrival of Harbaugh in 2011–ultimately comes and goes without a Super Bowl?

You can make a case that this decade-plus run is the third-greatest in 49ers history. Would that be enough without a Super Bowl trophy? Sure, there have been some down seasons mixed in, but they likely helped the organization replenish its roster with better draft picks.

Some teams win a championship or two before falling off a cliff and not being relevant again for many, many years. If you’re reading this as a 49ers fan, would that be more preferable to what you’ve experienced over the past 13 seasons? Is it about the journey or the destination? Even if this destination has been great for you, would it leave you with bad memories if it eventually ends without the ultimate prize?

It’s an interesting discussion, but the good news for the 49ers and their fans is they still have a chance to end this story the way they want.