Yucs Nightmare Will Help Lynch
March 2nd, 2017
Talks franchise turnarounds.
When someday Hall of Famer and current member of the Bucs Ring of Honor John Lynch first broke into the NFL, the Bucs were horrid. As in Lovie Smith-led like horrid.
The Bucs were known by a four-letter slur that could actually be repeated on TV in front of family and children. Lynch heard it a a lot.
“When I first got there, we were much more commonly referred to as the Yucs,” Lynch said Thursday from the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, the hub of the 201 NFL combine. “It wasn’t good. There was a losing culture there.”
Lynch said it is part of that experience from on a sordid squad to turning the franchise around — and parading around the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway with the Vince Lombardi Trophy in celebration — that he will use as a foundation into turning around the 49ers.
Lynch, in case you haven’t heard, is the new general manager of the 49ers. Today, Lynch stepped up to a podium to discuss his new gig and Joe asked him what, if anything, from his experience in Tampa Bay can he apply to his new job.
Lynch said there is “a lot” that he can use, and he cited the Yucs. The 49ers were so putrid last year, they have the No. 2 overall pick in the draft.
“From the situation and circumstances and also the people,” Lynch said of his experiences in his Tampa Bay days. “I had the great fortune to be around.
“The nice thing [in San Francisco], there isn’t a culture of losing. There is actually a culture of winning. They have had a couple of bad years and it is our job to get it back on top.”
Indeed, it wasn’t that long ago that Jim Harbaugh led the 49ers to an NFC title game and a Super Bowl appearance in consecutive seasons. The bottom fell out very quickly leading to Harbaugh to jump from a burning ship to Michigan.
Going from worst to first? Lynch knows all about that.
“I have been a part of how you do that, been right in the middle of it,” Lynch said. “And I think that will prove invaluable. I think being around people like Tony Dungy, who in my mind one of the great things he did was to create a vision of how we were going to get out selves out of it. There were not a lot of secrets: This is who we are. This is how we are going to be. These are the type of people we are looking for.
“When you do that, good things happen. So, I think in many ways, that situation will help.”
Lynch has a monster task in front of him. The 49ers are barren in talent on offense, no quarterback at all — Sideshow Bob is likely leaving — and Lynch also has a first-year head coach with him. Lot of inexperience there as Lynch is new to an NFL front office..
No matter if he succeeds or fails near the Golden Gate Bridge, Lynch will always be a fan favorite for Bucs fans.
March 2nd, 2017 at 12:30 pm
I like Lynch. Hope he does well.
March 2nd, 2017 at 12:42 pm
One of my favorites. How could he not be for a bucs fan who saw him play? Guy took heads off. Receivers feared crossing the middle. Never forget tbe rams receivers scared to get anywhere near him. Go lynch, go bucs
March 2nd, 2017 at 1:05 pm
Oh dear. I used to tell people back in the late 90’s that “I have no idea where all these Buc fans came from. When I moved here I rarely ran into one. If I told the other northern transplants in high school that I was a Bucs fan, it was treacherous.
I was moved to Fla as a teen with no idea of their past. Lived close by, so I latched on, going in blindfolded. They just drafted Vinny and I was pretty damned excited for my newly adopted team. At the same time I was just trying to learn the advanced rules of the game. I was 17 and grew up a Celtics fan. Never watched the Pats. Only randomly, and learned a few things from my older brother. He loved the Patriots. I loved the Celtics. Both loved the Red Sox.
So imagine having to learn what football is all about from the Yucs. Ray Perkins at that. It was dreadful. John Lynch and co had to turn that around. That’s why they will always remain special to fans like me. Each and every one of them. If fans, became fans after or near the Super Bowl win, they have no idea how bad it was. I used to talk about that on JBF a few years ago when fans would compare the current teams to the old sucky days. Not even close. They don’t know what bad football looks like.
I met John Lynch in an elevator on game day at Carolina in the team hotel because my cousin was the LS for the SB Champs. He signed his autograph, but looked focused.
The new stadium is still pretty nice compared to the old, but I’ll always remember the old Tampa Stadium as I like to call it. All 5,000 of us that used to go to those games. Sit wherever you want with no one messing with you. I used to go to games….by MYSELF!
No one wanted to go.
March 2nd, 2017 at 1:09 pm
Wow…a book. Sorry bout that..
March 2nd, 2017 at 2:11 pm
Hulk no like the 49ers. Lynch just joined Hydra. Hulk want nothing to do with him now. Hope they go 1-15 forever. At least until they sell team and move to Clearwater.
March 2nd, 2017 at 2:37 pm
87, the only upside was that tickets were very cheap and easy to come by and you got to see some of the greatest of all time visit Tampa. Guys like Berry Saunders and Walter Peyton made it worth the price of admission plus I use to love watching James Wilder run the ball. Wilder may have been one of the toughest RB I’ve ever seen and he took a beating every week.
March 2nd, 2017 at 7:08 pm
I really like John Lynch but I hope the 49ers keep losing, I don’t want anyone to win except our Bucs!
March 2nd, 2017 at 10:30 pm
The old Sombrero had several advantages for the few of us fans that were truly around back then.
You sat a lot closer to the field, especially if you had end zone seats in the old Sombrero.