Sure, you need a good team on the field to win in the NFL, but you also need a good team off of it.
The wives, fiancées and girlfriends of players for the San Francisco 49ers were in attendance when the team walloped the Dallas Cowboys, 42-10, Sept. 8 on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football" to run their record to 5-0. During a segment that aired on TODAY Oct. 9, the players’ better halves showed their love for their partners while sharing how they experience the game unlike just about anyone else.
“I have a really hard time sleeping. I can’t sleep before games,” model and entrepreneur Olivia Culpo, who’s engaged to 49ers star running back Christian McCaffrey, told TODAY’s Kaylee Hartung.
“I always pray first and foremost just for safety — just a safe, clean game," she said about how she keeps her emotions in check.
McCaffrey was traded to the 49ers from the Carolina Panthers last season, uprooting him from North Carolina to Northern California. Culpo said the players’ wives helped her adjust to a new team.
“They were so welcoming. I’ve been so lucky with all the women here,” she said.
One of those women is Mindy Armstead, who’s married to 49ers captain Arik Armstead, a star defensive lineman. She is mother to the couple’s two children, Amiri and Ayla, and works as a psychiatrist. She aims to keep everything in their lives in order.
“It’s not easy,” she laughs. “I do my best.”
Of course, sports is notorious for the superstitions that go along with it. Paloma Adams, girlfriend of 49ers offensive lineman Trent Williams, has her own weekly tradition.
“I eat McDonalds every single time before a game day. That’s me and Trent’s superstition,” she said.
The wives, fiancées and girlfriends share a bond that is unique to them.
“No one else can understand that pressure to be kind of this emotional powerhouse and support system for your significant other,” Mindy Armstead said.
“I think we really band together, and you end up making super-fast friends because of that. We’re all part of this team. We’re anxious and worried, and we’re thinking about, ‘Are things taken care of at home so that they can focus on the game?’”
Last year, Arik Armstead broke his leg, and Mindy Armstead said it altered life at home when she was trying to take care of their two kids. She recalled it being “so difficult” and showed how it’s “not the most glamorous side of the NFL.”
While she roots on her husband, Mindy Armstead also has to keep things humming along at home.
“I’ve got to take the car for the oil change and I've got to do all the daycare tours and do the fun things, but also the not so fun things,” she said.
And come game day, all eyes are of the players. Culpo knows McCaffrey takes a beating, but tries to take everything in stride.
“I’m waiting very patiently for the big pile to lift to just like, ‘OK, hurry up.’ There’s a lot of nerves, for sure, but that’s kind of why you have to just count your blessings every time there’s a great game.”