The San Francisco 49ers were one game away from advancing to Super Bowl LVII. The 49ers lost in the NFC Championship Game to the Philadelphia Eagles, 31-7, extending their Super Bowl drought to 28 years.

San Francisco is expected to compete for the NFL championship in 2023, but tight end George Kittle explained why the team has to capitalize on its chances while it can.

Via 49ersWebZone:

“I think that's something that our team is very aware of,” Kittle said. “We have a lot of highly-paid players on this team who have earned that money, and you can only pay so many guys. And we know that some of those guys are at the end of their contracts, the end of the guarantees, and that's when things start to move.”

San Francisco started the season 3-4 but won its final 10 games and two playoff contests to advance to the NFC Championship. The 49ers were led in huge part by their offense, which Kittle and others were able to exceed in with quarterback Brock Purdy, who won seven starts before the conference championship, in which he suffered a torn UCL early on.

But making the game is very challenging. San Francisco has made the Super Bowl twice since its last win in 1994, and with a roster that features star running back Christian McCaffrey, wide receiver Deebo Samuel, Kittle and star defensive lineman Nick Bosa, among others, the tight end knows the team needs to strike now.

“We know that we have a fantastic team,” Kittle said. “We need to win games. It's on us. It's on our amazing coaching staff. It's on our amazing players. We have to go out there and win.”