What a different eight days makes. After the 49ers were steamrolled by the Cardinals’ backups, Steve Young went on KNBR and said the team didn’t have any grit. Now, after a blowout win with Young in attendance against the Rams on Monday Night Football, ol’ number 8 is singing a different tune.
“When you’re jammed up and you have seven days to just eat all the crap that comes with everything in the media, everything in the newspapers, everything on the radio, everything on TV. You go to the grocery store, you go everywhere and everyone’s talking about what’s wrong, why is it wrong, ‘Kyle maybe gets fired’ - it’s just insanity.
You get a full seven day dose of that, and it doesn’t beat you down further? Some teams crater under that. It’s like a corrosive aspect. The idea that they kind of girted their loins, they jumped in and changed the tenor, the tone, and all the chat. It wasn’t like there was a big rah-rah speech out of the coach, it was just like, ‘Look, we’re gonna take care of this.’ I tip my cap. I don’t know where it’s going exactly, but I tip my cap to that. That’s a heck of a thing.”
The intensity with which the 49ers played definitely wasn’t something that we have seen all season. They played well against the Bears after a speech from General Manager John Lynch, and they dominated the Rams after a players-only meeting. Could it be that the team needs a little extra bit of juice to get fired up each week? Impossible to say for sure. If that’s the case, starting lining the speakers up now because it’s time to win.
Hear more on Young’s comments as well as George Kittle explaining why there won’t be a let-down this week against the Jaguars in today’s 49ers in Five podcast. Download it anywhere you get your podcasts, which now includes our Facebook page.
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