Reaching the Super Bowl is a monumental task.

Overcoming the lingering emotions of losing that game is an even greater challenge.

And that’s the challenge facing the 49ers, the most recent Super Bowl losers — in overtime, no less — this season.

While every 49ers player will carry the weight of lofty expectations — amplified by the all-too-real notion that this might be the final year for this team’s core as we know it — the most pressure to perform lies on the shoulders of the team’s head coach, Kyle Shanahan.

Shanahan is justly considered one of the finest coaches in the game, frequently described as a “genius.” At 44, when most head coaches are just landing their first top jobs, Shanahan has a legacy and lineage permeating the entire NFL. His influence is everywhere in this league.

And this will be the most demanding season of his career.

Since taking over a franchise in complete disarray in 2017, Shanahan has returned the Niners to their rightful spot in the highest levels of the NFL’s hierarchy. No, he hasn’t won the “big one” yet, but two NFC championships and four NFC Championship Games is a fate every team outside of Kansas City would gladly take.

The expectation for the 49ers is to return to the Super Bowl. They are the overwhelming betting favorites to represent their conference in New Orleans in February.

But expectations and reality have a funny way of misaligning in the NFL.

And it’s on Shanahan to put the uber-talented Niners in a tactical and emotional position to win.

Last season, the Eagles were 10-1 when they welcomed the 49ers to Philly 10 months after losing the Super Bowl. Despite having the NFL’s best record, the Eagles were reportedly “miserable.”

The Super Bowl hangover was real.

Sure enough, San Francisco rattled off six straight touchdown drives, sending the already fragile Eagles into a tailspin that culminated in wholesale firings, front-page drama, and, ultimately, five losses in their final six games, ending with an embarrassing blowout in the first round of the playoffs.

Now, the 49ers are not the Eagles. The fissures that expanded to create such discord in the nation’s first capital don’t exist in the South Bay. Shanahan runs a tighter ship, the team’s leadership appears stronger and there is a major difference between the two markets in fan and media pressure.

That’s not to say the Niners are immune from whatever disease riddled the Eagles last season, though.