If you’re among the sick, delusional San Diegans who cheer for the Chargers in the belief they’ll win a Super Bowl, you’re supporting a team whose top leaders aren’t in it to win it.
Dean Spanos and John Spanos are more about being comfortable than trying to win a Super Bowl.
The people who run the San Francisco 49ers?
They’re in it to win it.
That’s why San Diego’s John Lynch Jr. left a cozy NFL broadcasting job to become the team’s general manager six years ago.
The Torrey Pines High School alum had won a Super Bowl as a Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety during his Hall of Fame playing career. Paid well by Fox Sports, he said broadcasting NFL games didn’t quench his thirst for NFL competition. Believing coach Kyle Shanahan and the organization had a real shot — the inducement he needed — Lynch got sign-off from his wife and children to return to the league. If Shanahan had the NFL chops to command more say-so on personnel than most coaches get and the Spanoses ever allow, Lynch was OK with it. Winning. That was the thing, even if meant inheriting a 2-14 team.
Whether the Shanahan-Lynch Niners can finally raise the trophy will be known this winter, but they’re in the hunt once again, as evidenced by the 42-19 victory Sunday against the NFL-leading Eagles in Philadelphia.
Shanahan’s offense scored six consecutive touchdowns. Five of those drives exceeded 70 yards.
The defense did Lynch extra proud by limiting the Eagles to a season-low 46 rushing yards and shutting down the deep passing game.
Nearly a decade ago, Dean Spanos promoted his son John into the Chargers’ football presidency.
Lynch got his current job by attracting an offer from an established, rising coach in Shanahan.
Team Spanos almost never trades for NFL talent during the season. Turtling is the Spanoses’ comfort zone. It makes their drafts look better, and in John Spanos’ media-guide bio, much praise is heaped on the team’s draft record.
Lynch and Shanahan don’t turtle much.
Spending four draft picks for Christian McCaffrey during the 2022 season has paid off where it counts.
McCaffrey, adding to his mostly sensational tenure with the 49ers, gashed the Eagles for 93 rushing yards on 5.5 yards per carry on Sunday; he also had 40 receiving yards on just three catches.
The recent trade for edge rusher Chase Young has borne fruit in a 4-0 stretch that has followed. A refreshed, eight-deep defensive line constrained mobile quarterback Jalen Hurts, despite a tremendous game by Eagles All-Pro right tackle Lane Johnson.
So take note, Chargers suckers, er, fans: The folks who own the 49ers did not install their son as the team’s football president. They hired a head coach who commands both a substantial salary and clout on player personnel moves. They were OK with draft picks being traded during several seasons in return for NFL talent.
Not blessed by the great luck Team Spanos has enjoyed at quarterback for some two decades, the Lynch-Shanahan 49ers have had to dig harder to solve the NFL’s most important position.
Desperate for more playmaking than Jimmy Garoppolo could provide, Lynch and Shanahan whiffed on Trey Lance only to rebound by finding Brock Purdy last in the 2022 draft.
Purdy was sharp for most of Sunday’s game, leading to the biggest road victory of his still-brief career. An Eagles five-man front that dominated the first two series set him back, but from there, Purdy looked comfortable.
He threw on time and on target, ending up 19 for 27 for 314 yards and four touchdowns.
Though arm-strength grades lowered his draft stock, Purdy was able to wing a deep out from the far hash to Brandon Aiyuk that converted a third-and-7, leading to the fourth TD. The 6-foot-1/2 Iowa State alum ran through a rookie cornerback’s tackle try, launching a 6-yard scramble that set up another touchdown.
If there was a setback for the 49ers (9-3) and their fans Sunday, beyond a first quarter in which the team was outgained 124 yards to minus-6, it was the prospect of cheering for the Cowboys. For a Dallas victory over the Eagles (10-2) this Sunday in Texas could give San Francisco the inside track to the NFC’s top seed, by virtue of its victories over the Cowboys and Eagles.
The 49ers are likely to be favored in their final five games of the regular season. They appear headed to their fourth NFC title game in five years.
As it stands now, no team has a better chance of winning the Super Bowl trophy Feb. 11 in Las Vegas.
