Sunday’s AFC championship game offers the 49ers an exercise in thinking about what could have been.
Protecting Tom Brady’s blind side for the New England Patriots will be former 49ers right tackle Trent Brown, who prevented star pass rushers Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram from bothering the future Hall-of-Fame quarterback in the divisional playoff against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Neither Bosa nor Ingram registered a sack after combining for 35.5 the last two seasons. It was pivotal in New England’s 41-28 dismantling of the Chargers for the right to battle the Kansas City Chiefs for a shot at the Super Bowl.