Pressure can produce some interesting heroes.
San Francisco's special teamers, Jordan Willis and Talanoa Hufanga, against the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs in January of 2022, for example. Perhaps even cornerback Ambry Thomas earlier that season against the Los Angeles Rams, who's interception took San Francisco to the playoffs.
The 2025 Niners are likely to need some unlikely heroes, particularly given the defense's loss of experience and talent like Fred Warner and Nick Bosa. The fact the defense's average age was skewing young anyway, given the decision to part ways with a number of experienced depth pieces in the offseason, only adds to that calculation.