Steve Young blames the cultural shift and changes in the NFL for the demise of the ‘Super Bowl-or-bust’ mentality in the 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers have made it to the NFC Championship games in four of the last five seasons.
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Steve Young (via Imago)
The San Francisco 49ers have come close to tasting the victory of a championship two times in the past five seasons, yet the team has seen the Super Bowl slip right past it. Perhaps more frustrating than not getting to an inch of winning, it all must be to get there but consistently failing to close out the game. The recent struggles of the 49ers are a stark contrast to the winning culture that the team earned a repute for in the early 90s.
When Steve Young and head coach George Seifert ran the show, the front office of the San Francisco 49ers gave them an ultimatum. Either win or get ready to find a new home.
This motivated Young to deliver in 1994-95 as he led the Bay Area team to a Super Bowl victory, his third win and the only victory of his as a starting quarterback. It was clear that the ‘Super Bowl-or-bust’ ultimatum put forth by the team’s front office had paid off.
As 30 years have passed since that last Super Bowl win, Steve Young on the latest iteration of 49ers Talk, revealed why such an approach will not work in today’s NFL and for the current 49ers squad.
It's a different game, too. It's hard to say, 'Oh, let's do it (like the past).' The game has completely changed because of the rule changes for safety and personnel, and how we pay personnel and how we hold onto people and rookie salary cap...It's a different paradigm.Steve Young said
To the three-time Super Bowl champion, the game has evolved since then. While it worked perfectly back then, there is no guarantee that it would do so today.
You can take some modeling and some things from the past, but don't tell me that because they did it in the past, they should do it here. That doesn't make any sense to me.Steve Young added
The San Francisco 49ers have the best head coach and GM amongst NFL teams in Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch
The last thing on team CEO Jed York’s mind is to bring in a monumental change within the organization. The Super Bowl-or-bust approach would not work in today’s league because the availability of talent such as Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch is rare. One thing that is indisputable about the 49ers is that their front office and coaching never fails to perform.
John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan have developed great working chemistry with one another over the years. They continue to work throughout the clock to ensure they take every opportunity there is to improve the roster. The 49ers have brought together great pieces through trades by actively reaching out to teams and being persistent. Despite this, the 49ers have faltered toward the finish line in recent past.
The onus cannot completely be put onto the coaching staff. At some point, the players must also be held accountable.
Besides, both times the 49ers played in the Super Bowl, they went up against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Despite their best efforts, they came up short against one of the most talented quarterbacks of this generation. Steve Young is not counting the 49ers out despite their loss last season,
When they come up short, you just have to grit your teeth, throw up in our mouth and spit it out, and we're going to go do it again. And they're up to it. There's no less likelihood they win the Super Bowl this year based on last year.Steve Young said
There’s no doubt the 49ers can make it to the Super Bowl yet again, but the only question is, will they finally be able to close the gap and win the big game? The answer to that question would be contingent on the status of Brandon Aiyuk remaining on the team’s roster or not.
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Sumedh Joshi
(2235 Articles Published)