Frank Gore has been busy passing Hall of Fame legends on the all-time rushing list this season in Indianapolis. He’s currently eighth on the list, and will likely scoot by Eric Dickerson before the 2016 season concludes.
But the longtime San Francisco 49er has been keeping up with his former team’s 12-game losing streak. And he shared his salty feelings to Steve Young when the pair visited last week before the Colts’ Monday Night Football affair against the Jets.
“Frank Gore grabbed me and he wanted to just scream and yell about it,” Young said. “Here he is, what, three years out from the NFC (championship) and he (has) so much emotion, negative emotion, about what’s going on and who’s in…And I will not break that confidence, but clearly, the guy is still super upset. Just grabbed me out of nowhere and wanted to talk about it.
“So something’s up. And it’s not simple. Now there’s no question, you need to develop players. Trent’s (Dilfer) not wrong. But that’s a small piece of the iceberg and would be foolish to think that’s the issue. The issue is bigger and broader and deeper. By the way, that’s true for 15-20 teams around the league.
“A team like Tennessee has made that transition trying to figure out how to make it to the next spot. Oakland was horrible a couple years ago — they’ve been horrible for 15 years. It seems to be happening, a group of guys in the locker room they are developing leadership. Got the quarterback, seems like that’s answered. You see that coming.”
In November on Matt Maiocco’s podcast, 49ers running backs coach Tom Rathman said he talked to Gore too, and that the running back made a comment about all the losing.
“I think he’s a true Niner for always, when it’s all said and done,” Rathman said.
The 33-year-old Gore rushed for a 49ers franchise record 11,073 yards in 10 seasons with San Francisco.