With a Super Bowl berth so close that the 49ers can almost touch it, coach Jim Harbaugh didn’t drill down to the blurry details Monday.

No, instead of sidestepping the moment, Harbaugh went bigger and larger — to an epic scale, to match the crescendo of an epic season.

So if you were wondering whether the 49ers would embrace or avoid the significance of hosting the NFC Championship game against the New York Giants on Sunday, the answer: Yes, most definitely (and wisely) they’re embracing it, led by Harbaugh himself.

In his tone-setting weekly news conference, Harbaugh talked expansively about heroism, absolute challenges and the rugged character of his team displayed Saturday in a stirring divisional-round triumph over New Orleans.

For 36 eager minutes, he talked like he was describing a movie, with panoramic vistas and grand quests.

“These guys are my heroes — all of them,” Harbaugh said of his players. “Alex (Smith) was heroic in (Saturday’s game).

“So was Justin (Smith), so was Donte (Whitner), so was Aldon (Smith), Vernon Davis … I mean, you take your play to the heroic, that’s what he did, that’s what all our guys did.

“Just the way they all fight. It’s wicked, competitive fight that’s in our guys.”

So that’s the start of the buildup for Sunday’s game, the 49ers’ first trip to the NFC championship round since January 1998.

This would have been impossible to imagine a year ago, coming off a 6-10 season and years removed from the 49ers’ last playoff berth.

But after Harbaugh’s hiring, this 13-3 regular season, and that incredible finish against New Orleans, the 49ers sound in complete tune with the weight and consequence of the coming event.

They are a win away from the Super Bowl. They deserve to be here.

And if they shrink from that knowledge in any way, they probably will lose.

They’re not shrinking. It’s the opposite of that.

“Nobody really gave us the opportunity to be in this position, nobody gave us a chance to beat the Saints, nobody thought we would,” Whitner said. “Now we’re sitting here with home-field advantage, we have the Giants traveling here, and you know if we win we go to the Super Bowl…

“So I would be lying if I said we’re not thinking one win gets us in. We understand that. It’s a lot of pressure. But we have to go out there and control our own destiny.”

And all the while, the 49ers players are eyeing and evaluating the nationwide reaction to their rise.

“I feel like they doubt us every week,” tackle Anthony Davis said. “I love it. … I’m hearing that there’s still a little doubt. That’s cool.”

Even with the surprise Candlestick date after the Giants overturned the top-seeded Green Bay Packers, the 49ers clearly didn’t get an easy path Sunday.

The Giants have won four in a row and are a decidedly upgraded team from the one that almost beat the 49ers at Candlestick two months ago.

New York coach Tom Coughlin has every right to point out how dangerous his team is, as he did after the Giants’ victory in Green Bay on Sunday.

The Giants won a Super Bowl four years ago with a run like this, and they could do it again.

Which is one reason Harbaugh said he wasn’t necessarily pulling for the Giants to win Sunday, though it guaranteed that the 49ers wouldn’t have to travel to Green Bay’s Lambeau Field.

“Never really root — it’s almost like one of those things, be careful what you wish for,” Harbaugh said. “Just watch the two teams play, and if I ever do root in a game it’s always for the team that’s playing harder.

“It became evident that the Giants were playing harder and executing better and played as a team. That’s a formidable opponent. That is a worthy opponent. That is a scary opponent. We will have to come with every ounce of our ‘A’ game as well.”

Stipulated: The Giants are undeniably dangerous. So how dangerous are the 49ers then?

“I think we’re a good football team — I like our team,” Harbaugh said. “I think we’re a tough team. When we’re prepared and we have our focus and we fight like we did, shoot, every game we played this year, we’re a darn tough team to beat.”

That’s logical to say when you are one home victory away from a Super Bowl, but not always comfortable to say. Sometimes the unproven team shies away from the larger aspects of its biggest challenges.

Not this 49ers team, though. Not now, with the world watching, the drums pounding, and history ready to be made.

Read Tim Kawakami’s Talking Points blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami. Contact him at tkawakami@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5442.