Nearly five years before Peter King sat with San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch as they sipped Modelos in a quiet moment of shared triumph, the decorated NFL writer witnessed one of their first failures.
On April 28, 2017, the day before the final day of Shanahan and Lynch's first NFL draft, King, embedded with the 49ers, was in the room when Shanahan asked Lynch to consider selecting Utah running back Joe Williams with their next pick.
Williams had off-the-field issues that Lynch viewed as disqualifying, most notably "retiring" during his final college season before later returning. Lynch thought Williams quit on his team. Shanahan viewed him as an ideal offensive fit.
"Kyle loved him," King recalled. "And he said to John Lynch, ‘I would love to get this guy tomorrow. Would you please just think about this?'"
Lynch didn't just give his blessing. He traded up 22 spots to ensure Shanahan got his guy in the fourth round. Williams, of course, was a spectacular bust who never played a regular-season snap in the NFL.
Why did King recently recall this nearly decade-old memory? It had nothing to do with Williams not working out. It was about what King thought the pick said about how Shanahan and Lynch, then both rookies in their roles, would be able to work together after inheriting a 2-14 team.
"I left that draft thinking, ‘I don't know if the guys they picked are going to be any good,'" King said. "But I really liked the chemistry I saw."
With behind-the-scenes access King gained, he saw countless indelible and private moments during his 40 years covering the NFL. Two years after King's retirement, the longtime Sports Illustrated writer chronicled much of it in his book, "The Game," which was released Tuesday.
The release coincides with what's shaping up to be another successful season for the 49ers under Shanahan and Lynch, who have overseen a franchise that has made four NFC Championship Game appearances, two Super Bowl trips and had five 10-win seasons during their partnership.
The 49ers (5-0) are one of the NFL's three unbeaten teams, and it wouldn't be a surprise if Lynch and Shanahan share a January scene like the one King witnessed in 2022 after a 13-10 divisional-playoff upset win against the Packers at bone-chilling Lambeau Field.
After it ended, King was in the cramped visiting coach's office as Shanahan and Lynch shared their Modelo moment they'd labored together to create.
"I'll remember this one for a long time," Shanahan said.
King had a front-row seat to some of the most memorable moments in 49ers history after starting his 29-year run at Sports Illustrated in 1989, the latter stages of the franchise's dynasty.
The first game he covered for SI was among the most enduring regular-season starts of Joe Montana's career. King, then 32, wasn't necessarily going to write about the 49ers' visit to Philadelphia on Sept. 24, 1989. In SI lingo, he was "babysitting" the game, ready to write if it merited inclusion in the next week's magazine.
Montana ensured King would write his first cover story. After taking a hellacious, eight-sack beating against a punishing defense led by Reggie White, Montana threw for 245 yards and four touchdowns in the fourth quarter to turn an 11-point deficit into a 38-28 win.
The SI cover: "Joltin' Joe." The article's headline: "That Man Again." The classic Joe Cool quote: "You relish being in those situations."
King detailed Montana's equanimity and Steve Young's humanity.
For a 1997 SI cover story, King flew with Young to visit Navajo and Hopi Indian reservations in Arizona, trips Young had made for the previous 10 years while working with a nonprofit organization that helped send Native Americans to college.
Young was the favorite 49er that King covered largely because he was a "very good human being." Young's kindness was a reason that story was among one of King's favorites from his SI career.
"He went to a high school there, and the kids were kind of rude," King said. "They didn't pay attention to him much, and it was frustrating. But he didn't get mad at them. He just said basically, ‘Hey, they don't really have very many advantages in life and sometimes these kids don't quite understand how important this moment is in their lives.' He was always able to put things in pretty good perspective. I was always a big fan of his."
Months after traveling with Young, King had a far different interaction with a 49er. He was approached in the team's locker room by guard Kevin Gogan, who was a year removed from being named the NFL's third-dirtiest player by SI. But Gogan, 6-foot-7 and 317 pounds, didn't take issue with that. Instead, he was steamed because King had recently termed him a "journeyman," which King thought was an apt description for a player on his third team in five seasons.
"He basically started yelling, ‘Who are you calling a journeyman?'" King said. "And, luckily, he didn't come after me. He would have killed me. But he was never going to. Later that day, he came up to me and he said, ‘Hey, I really had you going, didn't I?' And so I think it was sort of for fun. But he wasn't happy to be called a journeyman."
King's book has 40 chapters, with each detailing a story from every year he covered the NFL. Chapter 5 (1998): "The Painful Last Stand of Bill Walsh."
King writes that Walsh, who was famously tortured, twice broke down crying in Eddie DeBartolo's condominium while meeting with the 49ers owner and vice president Carmen Policy during the 1988 season. After starting 6-5, the 49ers rallied to win Super Bowl XXIII, beating the Bengals 20-16, but Walsh didn't look triumphant.
Before Walsh announced his retirement, emotionally spent after 10 seasons at the helm, he met at midfield with Cincinnati head coach Sam Wyche, a former assistant, and collapsed into his arms.
"I was outside one of the locker rooms watching that moment on TV, and it looked like Sam Wyche was almost carrying Bill Walsh off the field," King said. "It was like Walsh was totally devoid of energy."
Young was also out of gas, severely dehydrated, after leading the 49ers to their fifth and last title in January 1995 by throwing a Super Bowl-record six touchdown passes in a 49-26 win over the San Diego Chargers. But his response was the opposite of Walsh.
Back at Young's room at the Miami Airport Marriott, where a large group of friends and family members had joined him, King observed as the game MVP was stretched out with IVs in both arms and EMTs standing on each side of his king bed. Despite his condition, Young was almost overcome with joy.
"Is this great or what?" Young said. "I mean, I haven't thrown six touchdown passes in a game in my life. Then I throw six in the Super Bowl!"
In his 2024 farewell column, King called this scene his favorite moment from his 40-year career.
It was a four-decade run that included searing moments from the last days of the 49ers' dynasty, along with a meeting with two men about a soon-to-be failed draft pick that, from King's perspective, suggested more good days were ahead.
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There’s more to San Francisco with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at From Joe Montana to Joe Williams, Peter King had a front-row seat to 49ers history.