The 49ers’ first game under the new regime of Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch didn’t exactly go as planned. While few predicted that San Francisco would beat the Panthers to open the season, the game was hardly competitive, and was largely defined by San Francisco’s penalties (10 for 74 yards) and mental mistakes that lead to a 23-3 trouncing.
Lynch joined Murph & Mac on Friday morning and was his usual, upbeat and optimistic self, but did admit that the team simply isn’t talented enough at this point to win without playing clean football.
“I felt like the intensity and physicality was there,” Lynch said. “I think execution is the next step for us,” Lynch said. “When your opportunities are there, we got to make them. Anyone who watched that game could see, early on in particular, we had opportunities and we didn’t cash in on them. I think it’s fair to say that our roster’s just not where it needs to be that we can overcome those things. We’ve got to, not play perfect, but we got to cash in when we’ve got our opportunities and we’ve got to stop from beating ourselves. When we do that, we feel like we can compete against most teams in this league.”
Perhaps the most costly mistake San Francisco made came on their opening drive, when Marquise Goodwin dropped what would’ve been a 74-yard touchdown pass, spoiling a perfect throw from Brian Hoyer and an opportunity to start the 2017 season with a bang. The mistake was the beginning of an awful sequence for San Francisco, that included Reuben Foster being carted off the field with an ankle injury, and a blown coverage and tackle by safety Jaquiski Tartt, that led to an easy Panthers touchdown.
With more than half the roster consisting of new additions, it will take the 49ers at least a couple weeks to gel, but if they hope to be competitive this week against an immensely talented Seahawks team in Seattle, they can’t afford to shoot themselves in the foot.
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Lynch’s comments on the 49ers’ mistakes, start from the beginning of the podcast.