Not all roses are exactly inside the 49ers locker room right now. In fact, quite the opposite.
Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young believes 49 players are panicking behind closed doors after losing four games in a row.
Young joined KNBR 680’s “Tolbert, Krueger & Brooks Show” on Wednesday as he discussed the 49-player loss streak, and how the quarterback’s situation affected the locker room.
“I give Jimmy a tremendous amount of credit for handling this through March, April, May, June, July and August really well,” Young said. “And until September, really. Better than you can even ask someone to bounce back, go play well, find your next job, deal with it every day in the locker room. So, that was the undercurrent of everything that happened in Bootcamp and Beyond. That’s What Happens at the Quarterback.(h/t 49ers Webzone)
“And the team, the locker room, you guys have heard me talking about the locker room, it has its own heartbeat and its own ecosystem, and in 2019 we had the best locker room in the league. And why we went to the Super Bowl was a lot of reasons, but the main reason It was the flexibility of that locker room, the leadership, the people who walked out of it, the people who spoke on her behalf. They dealt with all the problems. Needed the coach to come and deal with it. They dealt with all the difficult things that came up week after week.”
Six weeks into the season, the 49 players (2-4) find themselves in the distant third place in NFC West. They’ve lost several games by a score or less, the offense has been inconsistent, and there doesn’t seem to be a clear answer to who the starting quarterback should be.
“I felt like in Sunday’s game, against the Colts, I always think about who has the most flexible locker room,” Young continued. “I watch the match, I think about it, I watch it, and you can feel it. Maybe it’s just me, but I can watch and feel flexible. And I feel like our locker room isn’t great, and I’m worried about that it’s fraught with terror because now, six weeks later, it’s been Trey will play if he’s ready to play. It’s too late, so we’re inside.”
The 49 players have rallied around Garoppolo since he joined the team in 2017 on a deal from the New England Patriots. He was the guy, and every single one of his teammates had his back.
Now, there’s a new kid in the building. Tre Lance is the future of this team he coaches Kyle Shanahan made it clear. The rookie showed what he is capable of and gave the spark to the attack at times as Garoppolo and the whole unit struggled to move the ball. Not to mention that Lance is already admired by many of his teammates, and he’s made great strides thus far.
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As you can understand, the 49ers’ locker room can be conflicting and confusing as to the way forward. It couldn’t be easy to support two quarterbacks at once and get around the line between following the two leaders’ direction.
“But then Jimmy goes and plays, and you can see the locker room wants to support someone,” Young added. “Two good players. This is a Super Bowl roster, and they want the locker room to be cohesive. This situation has made it very difficult to have the locker room cohesive even though both players have played their roles really well. It’s not toxic. They’re trying Do their best. That’s why I say it’s fraught with terror because you’re just hoping that something positive will come out of Chicago, and if something positive comes out of Chicago, we can have a few weeks through that thing without further damage to the season, for Jimmy Woody.”
If the 49ers were able to escape their Week 8 game against the Chicago Bears with a win, it would surely instill more confidence in the group that has been freely knocked out of the deciding picture in recent weeks.