Large cardboard boxes dotted the 49ers’ locker room Monday. The sound of ripping tape — staffers helping seal those boxes of players’ belongings — filled the emptying space.

It felt like the last day of school, with jerseys replacing yearbooks. Nick Bosa signed one of his home No. 97s for Talanoa Hufanga, leaving a note — “To my Tongan brother” — right above his autograph. Bosa then chatted briefly with Christian McCaffrey and other teammates, who were making the rounds with handshakes and bro hugs.

The 49ers’ dreams for this season had died several weeks prior, but Monday brought the finality necessary to formally turn the page to 2025.

“Guys never stopped working hard, guys never stopped coming in here with intent,” McCaffrey said. “We just had a really tough year. I’ve been a part of tough years, and I’ve been a part of good years. I can tell you one thing, though: There’s only one team happy at the end of the year. Everyone else is really pissed off, whether you lose the Super Bowl or whether you go 6-11.

“The mindset now has to shift quick. This was a tough year, so let’s learn from the mistakes. We don’t have time to mope on this year.”

We do have time, however, to make some sense of the past 11 months. The 49ers’ slide to a 6-11 finish was dramatic. Though it was far from the first time a team has struggled in the season after a Super Bowl loss — the 2020 49ers finished 6-10 after also losing in the biggest game — this was an ordeal marked by an exceptionally large dosage of tragedy, drama, and general frustration.

The 49ers reflected on the saga Monday, hoping to leave it behind them as the focus turns to next season. Here’s a 10-part encapsulation of the nightmare from which the team hopes to triumphantly emerge in 2025.

Kansas City hadn’t scored a single point in the Super Bowl against the 49ers defense when linebacker Dre Greenlaw, taking his first stride onto the field following a punt play, ruptured his left Achilles tendon.

The injury very possibly cost the 49ers a championship. Greenlaw had been dominant to begin the game, and Kansas City exposed their backup linebackers in an overtime victory. Downstream effects were also disastrous, as Greenlaw appeared in only two 2024 season games — neither of which he was able to finish. The 49ers dropped from No. 10 to 26 in defensive DVOA this season without their fiery centerpiece. Adding insult to injury, Greenlaw’s replacement — De’Vondre Campbell — notoriously quit on the team during a game last month.

Two days after that Super Bowl, 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk teared up at his locker when asked about his memories of the preceding season and his future with the 49ers.

The emotional moment came on the heels of a pair of cryptic social media posts from Aiyuk and his now-fianceé which seemed to suggest he might’ve played his last game for the 49ers.

In retrospect, this was the precursor to a dramatic hold-in that would sideline Aiyuk for all of training camp. Though he’d finally accept a contract offer from the 49ers that was worth $30 million annually, Aiyuk didn’t sign that deal until late August — about three weeks after it was presented. That cost him and the 49ers valuable practice time and undoubtedly contributed to a sluggish and damaging September start.

Just two days after Aiyuk finally signed his contract, Ricky Pearsall took a bullet through the chest during an attempted robbery in downtown San Francisco. Miraculously, the rookie receiver not only survived but returned in relatively short order to an NFL playing field, even delivering a 141-yard outing against the Detroit Lions less than four months after the shooting.

Pearsall finished his season’s tumultuous ride back in his home state of Arizona. Dozens of friends and family members watched him haul in a touchdown catch against the Cardinals to close the season.

“It was a crazy, man,” Pearsall said Monday. “I feel like it was all written for me, being able to go home the last game of the season. On the bus on the way in, I took a photo of the stadium, texted it to my buddies and said, ‘We’ve come a long way.'”

While Pearsall narrowly escaped with his life (he shared a message of forgiveness while reflecting on the shooting Monday), numerous tragedies afflicted others in the 49ers’ building over the course of 2024. Offensive line coach Chris Foerster’s wife, Michelle, died from ovarian cancer a week before the Super Bowl. Cornerback Charvarius Ward’s 23-month-old daughter, Amani Joy, passed away in October. A month after that, left tackle Trent Williams and his wife announced the deaths of their twins — one during pregnancy and one stillborn.

Ward, who’s scheduled to hit free agency, delivered his goodbyes around the 49ers’ locker room on Monday. He made a 2025 return to the team sound unlikely as he shared some heartbreaking personal struggles from the past two months.

“[I’ve been] throwing up, waking up in the middle of the night, sweating,” Ward said. “I got a lot of trauma in California. The worst thing that’s ever happened to me happened in California. Every time I get on the plane to come back to California, Santa Clara, San Jose, it just brings up bad memories.

“I go through that every day. I go home by myself every day because my [girlfriend] doesn’t want to come back to California because of what happened. It’s hard being alone, and she’s my strength right now. I need her. Her not being able to be around me if I’m in California would be tough.”

Ward and his girlfriend, Monique Cook, did welcome a healthy baby boy — Charvarius Ward Jr. — in December.

Just 90 minutes before the 49ers kicked off their season opener against the New York Jets, they declared that their star running back would be inactive for the game. McCaffrey had been afflicted with Achilles tendinitis. He’d head to injured reserve later that week and wouldn’t return to the lineup for two months.

McCaffrey’s absence meant that the 49ers never had a chance to play with a fully stocked roster in the 2024 season. Because by the time McCaffrey returned, other stars were hurt.

Remarkably, the 49ers might’ve weathered the rash of tragedy and injuries had they simply held onto three fourth-quarter leads against NFC West opponents. But they couldn’t do that, losing progressively more agonizing games against the Rams, Cardinals, and Seahawks.

The first defeat came in Week 3 against Los Angeles, when kicker Jake Moody’s missed field goal and receiver Ronnie Bell’s deep drop doomed the 49ers against what had seemed to be an overmatched opponent. A theme for a torturous season — late-game collapses — was set.

Just one play after their best special teams moment of the season — a blocked field goal that Deommodore Lenoir returned for a touchdown — the 49ers suffered their most damaging special teams rep of the season. Cardinals kick returner DeeJay Dallas sprinted past the first layer of 49ers’ coverage and collided with Moody, who suffered a high ankle sprain on impact.

The 49ers would go on to lose the game by one point in large part because they no longer had a kicker. The injury might’ve also cost Moody his confidence. He’d missed only one kick prior to the sprain but went 11 of 20 — an atrocious 55% — after returning from the injury. The ordeal was emblematic of the 49ers’ league-worst special teams unit, which lost them about 64 expected points of value on the season.

The 49ers fired special teams coordinator Brian Schneider shortly after the season’s conclusion, according to ESPN’s Nick Wagoner.

A perfect third-down pass from quarterback Brock Purdy might’ve turned into a game-changing touchdown against the Chiefs for Aiyuk, who’d been struggling to produce over the first seven games of the season. But the throw turned into one of Aiyuk’s several early-season drops.

Less than 30 minutes later — on the same day that fellow receiver Deebo Samuel was hospitalized with pneumonia — Aiyuk tore his ACL and MCL on a vicious hit over the middle of the field. Though Aiyuk had been struggling up to that point, his absence for the season all but ensured that the 49ers offense would not return to peak efficiency in 2024.

The 49ers were stifling Seattle’s offense in another critical NFC West game, but Bosa — who’d already been fighting through an oblique injury — suffered another one that knocked him out of the game. Making matters more vexing, Bosa got hurt while he was sacking Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith, who went on a game-winning tear immediately after the star edge rusher exited.

Bosa’s absence over the next few weeks would coincide with a collapse of the 49ers defense.

By now, the 49ers were desperate. But they still harbored hope entering a blizzard in Buffalo because McCaffrey had returned — and was rounding back into form.

But on a play that was perfectly emblematic of the 49ers’ excruciating 2024 journey, a shoestring tackle from Bills safety Taylor Rapp thwarted a would-be McCaffrey touchdown. What looked like it’d be a potentially game-changing score turned into a season-ending injury for McCaffrey, who sprained his PCL on the play as his knee slammed into the turf.

“It was frustrating for a lot of reasons,” McCaffrey said of the play. “I grew up playing in a lot of snow games. So for me, I was really excited to play in another snow game. It was very nostalgic for me. It was also the first time I felt like myself again, and I was excited about that.”

McCaffrey tried to frame this low point in a positive light on Monday.

“It was good that it happened, because I got to taste it again and understand what I can do,” he said. “I’m feeling great now.”

The 49ers blew their one final chance to make a playoff push when Samuel dropped a Week 15 strike from Purdy that would’ve led him straight into the end zone. The Rams beat the 49ers again, 12-9, all but sealing the 49ers’ fate. They’d be eliminated from postseason contention before they played at Miami the following week.

A stretch-run defensive collapse followed, leading to the last-place divisional finish and Monday’s locker room exit — which came much sooner than it had over the previous three seasons, during which the 49ers had reached at least the NFC Championship Game.

Just like that, a team that had dominated its most familiar competition — going 11-1 against the division over the prior two seasons — finished 1-5 against the NFC West in this rotten campaign.

“When you have a lot of success a couple years in a row and you get humbled quick, it’s a good reminder of what it takes to be good in this league,” McCaffrey said.

The question now is how the 49ers will respond to this unpleasant reminder.

“I think we’re all pissed off in the right ways,” McCaffrey said. “And I think that’s a good place to be.”

Soon after that, staffers taped up another box, and McCaffrey left the locker room, on his way to what might be a defining 49ers offseason.