The San Francisco 49ers wrapped up a lengthy hiring process with announcements the past two weeks that they have hired head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch. The two men have a huge task in front of them, which they and Jed York all readily admitted.
It turns out, Lynch is not the only member of his family who realizes they face a tall order. In an interview with Mike Silver, Lynch had a great line from his daughter (h/t 49ers Webzone).
“I think the toughest one – I haven't told this yet to the media – but, all my kids took it really well. They were shocked but they took it well. My nine-year-old started bawling and she's not that girl. She's the one who’s always happy and she was crying and I said, 'What's wrong Leah? Are you afraid, there’s some nervous anxiety about moving?' And she said, 'No daddy,' and she was sobbing. And I said, 'What's wrong?' And she said, 'The 49ers are horrible.' So I said, 'Well, I think that's why they hired your daddy.’”
I think most can agree with Leah that the 49ers are horrible right now. They are coming off a 2-14 season that has seen them likely bottoming out after a precipitous decline dating back to 2014. Things can always find a way of getting worse, but the hope for most of us is that last year was rock bottom.
As the team looks to build back to the pinnacle it reached in the past, I suspect we will not hear quite as much from Leah in the next few years as we did from Cassie Baalke. And hopefully that is because the team has improved, and not just because she likely does not have a Twitter account.