SAN FRANCISCO — The pain of losing a Super Bowl never really disappears. It drives players who have experienced it to get back and get it right.
Ricky Proehl has been to four Super Bowls as a player, going 2-2. He won and lost with the Rams, lost with the Panthers, and got the second ring in his final NFL season, 2006 with Indianapolis.
He's at the big game again as Carolina's wide receivers coach, buoyed by memories of earning those rings, haunted by remembrances of the two failures.
"Anger, disbelief, shock," Proehl said Wednesday of his reactions to walking off the field a Super Bowl loser.