Joe Staley Looks Back on 49ers Super Bowl Loss, Blames The Refs

Joe Staley played his entire career for the San Francisco 49ers. He went to two Super Bowls with the team and retired after his last one. A deteriorating neck injury forced the offensive tackle to call it a career.

Staley said he regrets not being able to earn a championship over his otherwise noteworthy career. He may not lose sleep over it, but he still wishes he had the accomplishment on his resume.

Staley wishes he had retired on a high note rather than having his final football memory be walking off the field at Hard Rock Stadium as the Kansas City Chiefs celebrated, 49erswebzone.com reports. It was almost a different story though. San Francisco was holding onto a lead in the fourth quarter when everything derailed.

There is one thing about that loss that still bothers the six-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman — he said he wishes some of the calls had gone the 49ers' way.

"I've watched ," Staley said Tuesday on 95.7 The Game's The Morning Roast. "It's not something that's like some painful memory. Obviously, it's a game, and I would have loved to have won that game. But, for me, even though it was my last game too, kind of looking back and watching and seeing why did we not get it done? What happened? What were the turning points? I think one of the turning points is that Nick Bosa never got for holding ."

That clearly frustrated Staley, who watched Chiefs players repeatedly grabbing hold of the talented rookie defender. Fans can probably recall one specific instance of potential holding that was not called. It may have erased what became one of the most memorable plays in Chiefs' history.

But it wasn't just that play. "They held him like 30 times," Staley said.

Bosa finished the game with three tackles, a sack, a quarterback hit, and a pass defended.