Lynch: "We got close last year but close isn't good enough"
Friday 4 September 2020 18:05, UK
San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch believes his team's continuity will help them avoid a Super Bowl hangover in the 2020 season.
After their 13-3 regular-season record and NFC Championship game win, the Niners were toppled by the Kansas City Chiefs and a Patrick Mahomes-led comeback in Super Bowl LIV in Miami.
However this summer, Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan - who both joined the team ahead of the 2017 season - signed new long-term deals to stay with the franchise.
Speaking exclusively during NFL 32, a show celebrating the launch of a new dedicated NFL channel on Sky Sports, Lynch said having steady management will be more important this season than ever.
"In a season like this, it’s new for everyone," he said. "Our off-season was compromised in a big way.
"Any time you have that continuity, that familiarity with your coaches, with your culture, with your schemes, it's an advantage. We like our team, we like the quality of it, the depth of it.
"It really tests every team this off-season because in the NFL everybody is such a creature of habit - you get used to the same schedule year in, year out. Every year is different, but this year was really different. Everything about it has been different.
"It's going to be a challenge for everyone - who embraces that challenge? I do believe the continuity is a huge factor this year."
Although they have managed to retain the men in charge, San Francisco have lost some important components on the field over the summer.
Left tackle Joe Staley retired after 13 seasons with the team, receiver Emmanuel Sanders was scooped up by the Saints in free agency, while defensive tackle DeForest Buckner was traded to Indianapolis.
Lynch admitted "you can't pay everyone" but believes the three players acquired as direct replacements (former Washington LT Trent Williams and rookies Brandon Aiyuk and Javon Kinlaw) could even be seen as improvements.
"Trent has been an incredible presence for our guys," he said. "They marvel at his athleticism, I do as well. He's having fun playing football after a little bit of a lay-off - we are really excited.
“We do have a lot of work to do to fill the shoes of those guys but hopefully [we will] even be a little better because we're here to win championships and compete for championships.
"We got close last year but close isn't good enough, so we press on.”
The 'Super Bowl hangover' theory suggests it is extremely hard to get back to the big game after losing it, and Lynch admits "there's a pretty clear record and it's not a real promising one if you're looking for encouragement".
In recent NFL history, only the New England Patriots have managed to win a Super Bowl after losing the previous year.
However, in order to get right back there, Lynch has encouraged the Niners to embrace that disheartening past.
"Rather than hide from that, we took it head on and presented it to our team," he said. "What we did also was say ‘we believe that we are different’.
"We believe that we've assembled a group of men that are different and that are made of the right qualities. We brought a lot of like-minded people in here that have a championship mentality and the fact that we got there and came close, are we going to let that stop us? Or are we going to learn from it and try to be even better?
"You can talk about it but then you need to put it into action. And when our guys came back, albeit in a different off-season with Covid-19, I think the resolve has been tremendous."
The 49ers kick off their season by hosting the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, September 13 at 9.25pm.
Sky Sports NFL will be your dedicated channel for NFL coverage through the season - featuring a host of NFL Network programming, a new weekly preview show as well as at least five games a week and NFL Redzone, you won't miss a moment.
