Ten wins in the season.
This is a common standard used to measure strong teams in the league, and it is also a common benchmark for entering the playoffs. The San Francisco 49ers not only became the first team to achieve such a result in the 2012 season, but also reached such a height for two consecutive seasons. Undoubtedly, the team has now transformed and become the absolute focus of the entire league's attention, which truly shows Showed the style of a strong team.
What's more, this week's game still defeated the Chicago Bears.
Although the Chicago Bears have been ups and downs in the past few seasons, their state is not stable, and they always miss the key moments; but this season's Chicago Bears are undoubtedly a strong contender for the playoffs, and they are currently the league's defense. The second-ranked team won a clean victory in this strong matchup, which undoubtedly made people look at the San Francisco 49ers with further admiration.
It can be said that the San Francisco 49ers are in the spotlight right now.
"Yes, this is your second consecutive ten-win season. So, have you considered a full-win season this season? Now that the team's offensive end, defensive end and special teams are all among the best in the league, do you think you A chance to replicate the feat of the 2007 New England Patriots?"
According to common sense, the regular season has only lasted ten weeks, and there are still six games before the end of the season. There is still a huge difference between ten wins and sixteen wins. It is too early to talk about complete victory; but Considering the score and process of this victory, as well as the overall state of the team this season, reporters are eager to bring it up now. It is a little strange, but within a reasonable range.
But Lu Ke still felt weird.
The reason is simple. The questioner is Harry Wayans, the Harry Wayans of "Sports Illustrated", the Harry Wayans who wants to eat Lu Ke alive. When did Harry start singing praises for the San Francisco 49ers and Lu Ke?
"Is it too late for me to think about it now?"
The subtext is that I never thought about it before. Lu Ke answered unconventionally, using a relatively relaxed and humorous attitude to make the question sound less serious.
Then, Lu Ke added, "To be honest, I haven't thought about it. Even the New England Patriots admit that a complete victory in the season requires a little luck and opportunity; for us, the most important thing now is to consider the next step. This opponent, not to mention a perfect season, is very likely to cause us to stumble in the next game."
Next week, the San Francisco 49ers will travel to the road to challenge the New Orleans Saints.
"What we are discussing now is not the possibility of a perfect season, but whether the team has thought about a perfect season." Harry still followed closely and did not let Lu Ke take the topic easily.
"This season, the team has always maintained an excellent state and has achieved many wonderful victories. The number of touchdowns and the number of ball transitions are both tops in the league. Have you really not considered a complete victory season? Is this something? Regardless of whether it is possible to realize it, or even think about it? At least, have you thought about this possibility? "
Something is wrong. Sure enough, something is still wrong.
Lu Ke is not a fool. As an outstanding graduate majoring in journalism, Lu Ke's sensitivity to news is unquestionable. He can now vaguely sense Harry's plan:
Praise and kill.
The so-called flattery is actually very simple, which means excessive praise and flattery, making the person being praised vain or conceited or attracting the goals planned by others.
First of all, rugby is a team sport. If you praise it too much, you will inevitably have overconfidence and blind self-confidence among the 53-man roster. The mentality of the game will easily fluctuate violently. Once you encounter a setback, you may become impatient. The team's original resilience was lost.
Secondly, football is a league sport. When all the media praises one team, it will inevitably become a thorn in the side of the other thirty-one teams. In fact, this was the case for the New England Patriots in the 2007 season. It is no exaggeration. In other words, it is the public enemy of the whole people. As long as everyone faces this team, they will fight with all their strength. There will always be someone who can pull it down. Even the mature and experienced Patriots have been tricked, let alone the young and energetic San Francisco 49ers?
If this is the case, then this is where Harry is really smart.
Because this is a conspiracy.
A conspiracy that is both irresistible and difficult to deal with, a conspiracy that lays a trap openly and openly that makes people have to jump.
Harry clearly showed his praise. Even if Lu Ke saw through the plot, he was still helpless because the team was winning now, and other media would definitely echo it. With the bustle, the praise would get louder and louder. It's getting more and more violent, what else can they do?
Could it be that Lu Ke chose to confront Harry and scold him for having ulterior motives and bad intentions? Then fans and other players will think that Lu Ke poured cold water on him for no reason.
Should the team lose a game on purpose to relieve pressure? So who can be sure that a loss will not destroy the team's spirit and then never get back on the winning track?
In other words, neither does it admit it, nor does it deny it; nor does it suppress confidence, nor does it continue to be confident. A real dilemma. Things are really tricky.
All in all, it has been more than a year since Lu Ke and Harry played against each other. Lu Ke has always been able to firmly have the upper hand. On the one hand, it is because the team is still winning, and on the other hand, Lu Ke is habitual. Self-discipline prevented Harry from finding loopholes in his attacks off the court; but now, for the first time, Harry had the upper hand, a real upper hand.
For the first time, Lu Ke paused for a moment in his answer and did not respond immediately by hitting the wall.
His thoughts were spinning in his mind. Lu Ke didn't have a good way to deal with such a difficult problem. What's more, he was also the team's offensive team leader. If he accidentally damaged the team's morale, the gain would outweigh the loss. .
"We're thinking about the Super Bowl."
Lu Ke showed a bright smile and answered. He did not directly respond to the victory season, but directly skipped the process and aimed at the ultimate goal.
Whether it's a perfect season and the No. 1 seed, or it's a sideline entry into the playoffs as the No. 6 seed, no matter what, the Super Bowl is every team's ultimate goal.
People remember the New England Patriots' undefeated record in the 2007 season, but they also remember the New York Giants' feat of breaking the New England Patriots' undefeated title in the 2007 Super Bowl; people remember Green Bay's 2010 season. The Packers' feat of winning the championship has forgotten that the Green Bay Packers had only ten wins and six losses in the regular season. They were ranked the sixth seed in the National League. They defeated the first, second and third seeds in the National League along the way and won the championship. A miracle.
Victory is important; but championship is even more important. Winning is just the path to a championship. Someone once said that the World Cup, which happens every four years, attracts everyone's attention, but no one remembers who the runner-up is. This sentence is very cruel, even cruel, but this is the real world.
Isn't this the case with rugby?
The Super Bowl, this is the goal of the San Francisco 49ers. As for the undefeated season, it can only be regarded as the icing on the cake. It is great to be able to achieve the feat, but it does not matter if you regret missing it. On the one hand, it shows the team's absolute confidence; on the other hand, it is no longer limited to the pressure brought by "victory" itself.
In addition, the Super Bowl is also the same goal for the 32 teams in the league. This does not have the potential to be arrogant or arrogant. Instead, it can show the current mental outlook of the San Francisco 49ers. From the beginning of the season to the end of the season, the Super Bowl is the team's highest goal, there is no doubt about it.
In a short period of time, this was the most appropriate response in Lu Ke's mind.
"Compared to others, the Super Bowl is our goal, it can even be said to be the only goal." Lu Ke met Harry's gaze with a smile, "In order to achieve this goal, we must be down-to-earth, one game at a time. It's done game by game. The next game on the road against Drew Brees is all we have to think about."
In the words, there was no mention of the winning season at all, and all the focus shifted to the Super Bowl.
Harry looked at Lu Ke meaningfully, but he didn't seem to care at all. Instead, he smiled:
The fundamental reason why the praising strategy is so difficult to guard against is that, whether it is a perfect season or the Super Bowl, as long as the San Francisco 49ers are still on the track of victory, they have something to do. For example, "The San Francisco 49ers will win the Super Bowl." "In control", "Lu Ke confidently points to the Super Bowl", "The favorite to win the championship this season is announced"...
As long as such topics are published, pressure will build up little by little.
Therefore, Harry looked at Lu Ke quietly as if he was sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai. He had already thought of the title of today's article, "Defeat fifth in the league, the San Francisco 49ers are ready to win the championship!"
Harry will definitely win this battle.
If it was said that Lu Ke just made his own random guesses, just divergent thinking because of Harry's abnormal behavior, there was no substantive evidence; but then, the frenzy of questions from other reporters confirmed Lu Ke's guess. , this campaign of flattery and killing has just begun.
All the reporters’ questions were almost always changed, and the underlying meaning was the same——
The sword points to victory!
The current San Francisco 49ers are the well-deserved top spot in the league. They are not only a strong team, but even an undefeated championship team. Step by step, they are pushed to a position where they absolutely cannot lose. It seems that once they lose, The ball seems to be the end of the world. After ten consecutive victories, the huge pressure is like a snowball, getting bigger and bigger, but no one knows whether the avalanche will come, and when will it come?
Even Lu Ke can't stand facing the media now.
