I 100 percent understood what Aaron Lynch was trying to do Sunday in the 49ers locker room, when he repeatedly called the 49ers one of the best teams in the NFL.
Aaron Lynch was trying to be a leader, well because, the 49ers don’t really have one.
Still, reporters stood around him mystified with our mouths wide open. It’s not humanly possible to watch film of the 49ers and pretend like this is a mediocre football team, let alone ‘one of the best teams.’ What Lynch said made zero sense at all, and it makes you wonder whether coaches and players have looked hard enough in the mirror to recognize what the hell is going on.
Aaron, 49ers fans heard your message. They politely rejected it. Come back in two weeks with some better material that’s actually believable. But I will applaud you for trying to step up, when nobody else really will.
After all, a 1-6 record is new territory for many people within the organization. Chip Kelly barely lost three games in a row during his Philadelphia tenure, let alone six. When you’re a guilty party involved in a train wreck, nobody knows exactly what to say.
The intention of Lynch’s message was noted, but his comments were preposterous. The 49ers get bullied on a football field for three hours every Sunday. This team continually makes elementary mistakes. Effort in tackling and fumbles on special teams, and throwing short of the marker on third-downs have been consistent themes. Those are concepts high school football teams generally can overcome.
I’ve stated on my podcast that this locker room was brought closer together through Colin Kaepernick’s players-only meeting in August. But having a locker room who won’t snitch on each other does not necessarily mean the proper voices are speaking up.
My best guess on what’s going on day-to-day in Santa Clara: Chip Kelly has allowed a laissez-faire type of atmosphere to win the players over, the 49ers players aren’t policing themselves hard enough, bad habits have formed and they’ve gotten lazy in practice — which carries over to the field. The coaching staff is too new and both Kelly and Jim O’Neil experienced firings in 2015, a humbling experience. Kelly and O’Neil do not want to ruffle feathers. Good teams can fight internally and handle it. Bad teams shy away from necessary conflict. You just don’t seen enough frustration on players’ faces.
It’s also possible Lynch spoke up because of a strong relationship with GM Trent Baalke. He could be trying to voice support for the guy who took a chance on him in the fifth round of the 2014 draft. Lynch has not been the spark many expected after serving a four game suspension to begin the season.
This is also why solely building through the draft and ignoring free agency is a flawed strategy. When you only have younger players who have not seen enough NFL experience, they don’t know how to properly handle all the losing. When you sprinkle some quality veterans around the locker room, the professionalism changes. And if you hit the right players in free agency, those bad habits don’t crop up as easily.
Sunday was a learning lesson for Lynch. The 49ers need a leader with NaVorro Bowman out, but they need one who says the right things.