Why Jed York Deserves the Most Credit for the 49ers' Turnaround
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - After seven long years of mediocrity, the San Francisco 49ers are back in the Super Bowl for the seventh time in franchise history. The 2019 season has already been one for the books for this illustrious franchise with head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch at the forefront of the team's success.
However, as stellar of a job that these two have done in the last three years they are not the sole or main reason for this turnaround. 49ers' CEO Jed York deserves the most credit for the team's turnaround.
Why? Because back in 2015, the 49ers were poised to be a bottom feeding franchise for the next 10 years due to York interfering with the day-to-day football operations. It all started with three comical words that have never been heard in football before.
"Winning with class."
These three words that would be etched into the minds of fans in 2015 when York uttered them following the "mutual parting" with head coach Jim Harbaugh. A parting that York executed from ego and pride rather than for the sake of the football.
Once those words were spewed from York, the downward spiral of the franchise would begin. Everything within the 49ers' football operations was meddled with by York, who had zero experience doing so. His ignorance showed when he viewed 49ers' defensive line coach Jim Tomsula as a viable successor to Harbaugh.
York handed the keys to Tomsula with the belief that he could enact his "winning with class" motto going forward. That Tomsula was more than capable of getting the San Francisco 49ers back into the Super Bowl.
Not only did the 49ers fail to reach the Super Bowl, they didn't even sniff the playoffs. Tomsula's debut season was as abysmal as it could have been. The 49ers would finish 5-11 in 2015, their first losing record since 2010.
But hey, at least the 49ers "won with class" in those games right?
After touting him as the right coach for the future, Tomsula would be fired from his position after a one-year stint. York would then turn his attention to Chip Kelly, who somehow proved to be an even worse coach than Tomsula. San Francisco finished the 2016 season at 2-14 with a second-consecutive losing season.
These two horrendous years by the 49ers caused the fans to distance themselves from the team and rightfully so. The product that they were putting on the field was embarrassing. Levi's Stadium could hardly fill half of a stadium following the release of Harbaugh. York would constantly be the butt of every joke because of his "winning with class" phrase.
Seeing what York was doing with the team, he was essentially peeling back the franchise like an onion until it was no more. The cause for the 49ers to reaching irrelevance can be accredited to him for having his hands all over the team outside of a typical owner's role.
The future looked bleak with no hope in sight. So long as York was meddling with football operations, the San Francisco 49ers would never ascend again. However, something changed in York that not many people with an ego go through.
Self-evaluation.
Many people driven by ego, especially billionaire owners, feel like they are on top of the world. Just look at Dallas Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones. It's no secret as to why that franchise can never sniff the NFC championship - let alone a Super Bowl.
It was that self-evaluation that York underwent that caused him to see the bigger picture. After signing Chip Kelly to a four-year $24 million deal, York would cut his ties with Kelly after the 2016 season. Having to swallow such a massive pill knowing that he would have to pay off the rest of his deal to stay away from the team. York did not stop there.
Prior to Kelly's firing, he would relieve general manager Trent Baalke of his duties, which turned into a clean sweep of the franchise. York let almost everyone go in hopes that he could find the right staff and management that he could hand the keys to for the better future of the 49ers. The fact that he recognized a reset was necessary and that he did so knowing he would have over $30 million in dead money shows his growth.
York realized that his meddling was detrimental to the 49ers' success going forward. From that moment on, it caused a domino effect for the 2019 San Francisco 49ers to come alive. His first order of business after sweeping the facility would be to hire John Lynch as general manager and Kyle Shanahan, coming fresh off a Super Bowl trip, as head coach.
Both were signed to six-year deals to allow them the time to make their vision of a championship team come alive. At his presser on Friday, Kyle Shanahan was asked what was important for him to get from York during his interview.
Shanahan answered, "I think everyone says that they're trying to win every single year, but I don't think all teams truly mean it, and you don't want to go to a team that's just a marketing firm. You want to go to a team that truly the most important thing is to win a Super Bowl. Everyone says that, but your actions show it, and that's what was, I got to really believe in Jed by spending about four hours with him in that first interview."
The best part about hiring these two is that York gave them full autonomy. There would be no more speeches about "winning with class". No more meddling in a realm that he had no understanding of. He allowed Lynch and Shanahan to handle all of the football operations, while York settled back into a simple owner.
This is why Jed York deserves the most credit for the 49ers' turnaround.
Without him receiving that wake up call, the 49ers would have still been in the dumps. They would not have had a phenomenal season this year that would lead them to a Super Bowl appearance. As great as the drafting and planning has been with Lynch and Shanahan, none of this would have came to fruition if Jed York did not tip over the first domino for this to come into effect.
