Why, you may ask? Well, that depends on your perspective. The team’s backfield is decimated with injuries. George Kittle has been out. Deebo Samuel is really the only offensive weapon producing. San Francisco’s rushing defense is in the bottom half of the league. Coach Kyle Shanahan’s play-calling has been under fire.
And, of course, there’s the quarterback situation. Jimmy Garoppolo has been in and out of the lineup, and when he’s been in, he’s mostly disappointed. Trey Lance is also battling injuries, and was so-so when he got the start versus the Arizona Cardinals.
According to Niners legend Steve Young, it’s the quarterback carousal in particular that has the team out of sorts. Young’s analysis, which he’s basing on the perceived personal dynamics between teammates, is interesting and well-founded given his own background. It’s also a wee bit dramatic.
During a recent KNBR appearance, Young compared this year’s squad and its team chemistry to that of the 2019 squad, which advanced to the Super Bowl.
“In 2019, we had the best locker room in the league,” he said. “And why we went to the Super Bowl was a lot of reasons, but the main reason was the resiliency of that locker room, and the leadership, and the people that came out of it, the people that spoke for it. They dealt with all the problems.”
Now, Young says, the Niners’ locker room is “fraught with terror” because no one knows who should start at quarterback anymore.
“I feel our locker room is not great, and I’m worried that it’s fraught with terror because now, six weeks in, Trey [Lance] would be playing if he was ready to play,” he said.
That’s a bold assessment, which Young attempted to clarify later in the radio interview.
“This situation has made it very difficult to have a cohesive locker room even though both guys have played their parts really well,” he said of Garoppolo and Lance. “They’re not toxic. They’re trying to do the best they can. So that’s why I say it’s ‘fraught with terror,’ because you just hope that something positive comes out of [their next game vs. the Chicago Bears]. And if there’s something positive that comes out of Chicago, we can eke out some more weeks without too much more damage to the season, to Jimmy, to Trey.
“The more damage that Jimmy has, then we have to move Jimmy, and there’s nothing being offered,” Young continued. “Or Trey is damaged because he’s young and hasn’t played well. Now, the season’s over because we’re now 3-8. That’s why it’s fraught with terror.”
In other words, to Young winning is the only answer to a quarterback battle that is, at least for the moment, a race to the bottom. If Garoppolo improves, that solves all the 49ers’ issues both on the field and in the locker room while Lance develops for the future. But if Jimmy G is eventually banished to the bench, Young sounds concerned that Lance could get thrown for a loop and struggle a la Justin Fields in Chicago, which hurts morale both in the present and looking ahead.
Young is right: The Niners are in a difficult spot. Let’s just hope “terror” isn’t the word actual players would use to describe the situation.
