The San Francisco 49ers were one quarter away from reaching the Super Bowl last season. Sadly for them, they blew a late lead and lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship. Nevertheless, the goals are still the same for San Francisco this year.

Things got a bit more difficult though as news surfaced that seven-time Pro Bowl center Alex Mack is retiring from the National Football League, according to Bally Sports' Michael Silver.

Mack played in the NFL for 13 seasons, spending time with the Cleveland Browns, Atlanta Falcons and 49ers.

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The news does not come as a shock. Last week while addressing the media, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan talked about Mack's future. He said that he was going to leave it up to Alex, but that he had a pretty good idea as to what the decision might be. The fact that Mack had not shown up to OTA's (organized team activities) gave very everyone the impression he was not likely to return for his 14th season.

Mack was a first round pick in the 2009 NFL Draft by the Browns. He spent his first seven seasons in Cleveland before heading to Atlanta for the next five. Last year was his only season in San Francisco.

San Francisco spent two draft picks in the 2022 NFL Draft on offensive lineman. They took Spencer Buford, a versatile offensive lineman out of UTSA in the fourth round. Later, the 49ers drafted Nick Zakelj in the sixth round.

So much of San Francisco's success in 2021 was predicated on winning the battle at the line of scrimmage. With Mack retiring, that will be a big question mark heading into 2022.