San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has been around the NFL long enough to know that transitioning from the grind of the regular season to the pressure cooker of the NFL playoffs is no easy feat.
Players battle to keep their focus and stay in peak physical condition over the course of 17 weeks with the primary goal of ensuring they make it to the postseason, all the while knowing that their season can then be ended in an instant with a single off-colour performance.
Maintaining the level of play and the intensity that helped clinch a postseason berth is paramount for teams hoping to avoid an early exit, yet for teams that secure their spot several weeks before the end of the regular season, avoiding heading into the playoffs on a lull can be difficult.
