Penn Charter alum Mike McGlinchey relishing his role in 49ers’ run game success heading into Super Bowl

MIAMI – The San Francisco 49ers’ 37-20 win over the Green Bay Packers in the NFC championship game was the kind of game every offensive lineman dreams about.

The Niners ran the ball 42 times for 285 yards. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo threw just eight passes the entire game, two in the second half.

Garoppolo completed a 6-yard pass to wide receiver Kendrick Bourne with 2:10 left in the second quarter and didn’t put the ball in the air again until there was 8:10 left in the game. That’s a 24-minute span. Garoppolo’s eight pass attempts were just two short of the league record for fewest passes in a conference championship game (six by the Dolphins’ Bob Griese in 1973).

"We realized we hadn’t called a pass play in like two hours,’’ said Mike McGlinchey, the Niners’ starting right tackle from Penn Charter. “It was so long between pass sets that it’s the first time I can ever remember feeling rusty doing it in the middle of a game.’’

He’s not complaining, mind you. Offensive linemen enjoy run-blocking a lot more than they do pass-blocking. It’s the difference between throwing punches and fending them off.

“The most fun you can have as an offensive lineman is coming off the ball and moving people off the line of scrimmage,’’ McGlinchey said. “It’s the best kind of football out there.

“When you have a defense like ours and you can run the ball the way we’ve been running it, we love doing that. Hopefully, we can keep it up Sunday.’’

McGlinchey and the Niners, who won just four games a year ago, will face the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday in Super Bowl LIV. If they are able to run the ball as well against the Chiefs and their 26th-ranked run defense as they did in their playoff wins over the Packers and Minnesota Vikings, it could be a frustrating night for Andy Reid.

Using a three-running back rotation, the Niners finished second in the NFL in rushing (144.1 yards per game) and eighth in rush average (4.6) this season. Raheem Mostert, Matt Breida and Tevin Coleman combined for 1,939 yards.

They did that despite the fact that McGlinchey and six-time Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Staley played just six games together in the regular season. The 35-year-old Staley missed nine games with a broken fibula. McGlinchey was out four games with a right knee injury that required arthroscopic surgery.

“It took a couple of games to knock the rust off after I came back,’’ McGlinchey said. “But I feel I’ve been playing pretty good football since then.’’

In the eight games that Staley and McGlinchey have played together this season, including both playoff wins, the Niners have averaged an impressive 5.2 yards per carry. In the 10 games that one or both have missed, they’ve averaged just 4.3.

In their win over the Packers two weeks ago, Mostert, who was on the Eagles’ practice squad in 2015, ran wild for 220 yards and four touchdowns. That’s the second-most rushing yards by a back in a postseason game in NFL history, topped only by Eric Dickerson’s 248 yards for the Rams against Dallas in the 1985 divisional round.

“It’s been pretty good,’’ McGlinchey said of the Niners’ ground game. “But we still need to keep getting better. The Chiefs are going to give us everything they’ve got Sunday. We’re going to have to find some new wrinkles, for sure.’’

McGlinchey has made it to the Super Bowl in just his second pro season. The Notre Dame product was the ninth overall pick in the 2018 draft. He started 16 games as a rookie. While the Niners finished 4-12 last year, five of those losses were by five points or fewer.

“It never felt like we were a four-win team last year,’’ McGlinchey said. “So many of our losses were close. We just needed to get over the hump and finish games. We didn’t have as many devastating injuries [this season] as we did last year, and things just fell into place.’’

McGlinchey said the biggest difference in him this season has been his confidence level.

“I always felt I was capable of playing great in this league,’’ he said. “But it was a matter of getting over the hump, understanding my playbook and stuff inside and out, and being able to make snap decisions that I needed to make.

“Getting bigger, stronger and faster in the offseason certainly helped. I honed my technique. But confidence has been the key. Not being scared going out there on the field.’’

At Notre Dame, McGlinchey spent his first two years in South Bend at right tackle and his last two at left tackle. Much like the Eagles when they drafted Lane Johnson in 2013, the Niners’ plan with McGlinchey was to put him at right tackle until Staley was ready to retire, then slide him over to the left side.

Johnson waited so long for Jason Peters to retire that the Eagles ended up drafting another left tackle last year, Andre Dillard, and likely will leave Johnson on the right side if/when Peters finally leaves.

McGlinchey said he’s fine where he is. He and Staley are good buddies who are popular on the Bay Area karaoke circuit.

“We might have a similar situation here [to Peters and Johnson],’’ McGlinchey said. “It’s obviously Joe’s decision how long he wants to keep playing. But the things he’s putting on film, it looks like he’s going to be able to play forever.

“I’m very comfortable playing right tackle. It doesn’t matter anymore. A lot of the best rushers in the league line up on my side. And it doesn’t seem like front offices differentiate anymore, given what guys on the right side like Lane and [the Raiders’] Trent Brown are making. They’re two of the highest-paid tackles in the league.’’

McGlinchey said he has benefited from going up against the Niners’ edge rushers, particularly likely NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Nick Bosa.

“We use the phrase iron sharpens iron,’’ he said. “It’s been huge going up against Nick. And I hope it’s been huge for him as well. He’s been unbelievable. I mean, to be so polished coming in as a 21-year-old guy. He’s just so smooth and instinctive and a smart football player in addition to his incredible physical attributes. He pushes me to new limits every single day. It’s worked out well for both of us.’’