YOUNG: I played a long time, and this is a big boy league, and its a tough league, and you get paid a lot of money, and there are huge expectations, and nothing is easy and nothing is guaranteed.
So, in those terms, the basic fundamentals here are: Weve got this young kid. We think hes the star. We think the locker room will rally around him. We think hes going to be able to handle it. Weve got a great team that will support him, so that he can make mistakes and still win enough games. We believe he can go the distance, and youre benched. Thats what this is all about. This is the big boy stuff.
Alex is going to man up. Its going to be brutal Im sure these are some of the most brutal days of his career. Despite all the things that hes seen, this is a hard, hard time. To walk into work and see that your job is gone and still stay strong, do the work, be ready to play, not let the resentment get to you, not let the double talk that youre getting from the building get to you because they dont know how to say it. They dont know how to tell him. You set the record for most consecutive passes without an interception in franchise history, you ran up the most yards the offense has ever had in 49ers history this year, you were 18-of-19 the best completion percentage in the history of the 49ers this year, were 7-2 and running away with the division, but youre benched. Thats a tough one.
For Colin, can you imagine how much you must mean to this coach and to these guys and to this team? Despite all of that context, youre the man. Go get it done. We believe in you. Go win a Super Bowl.
Because in many ways, if they go to the playoffs and they lose, theyre going to be in a tough spot, but theres no turning back. Colin Kaepernick is the quarterback for the 49ers barring him imploding.
Theyll protect him enough him with a great running game, a phenomenal defense, everything about this team thats going to protect him, put a cocoon around this kid.
And they believe hes up to being able to get through that and go the distance. Because if they dont go the distance, theres going to be a ton of blowback, but I dont think they care. I think they think: Heres the kid thats going to do it. If we get blowback, were going go to the offseason and hell get better and better, and off we go.
And thats the tough reality for Alex right now. Its over. It might not be over day to day, and it might not be over game to game, but unless Kaepernick implodes, theyve made the decision, and its a big one, and its a precipitous one, and its a meaningful one, and its a painful one. Ive been through enough to know that thats the facts.
Obviously, for Colin, this is unbelievable, and a wonderful opportunity. And for Alex, a bitter, bitter pill. I can promise you that despite all the struggles Alex has had through his career not many of them his own making this is by far the most bitter and difficult thing hes been through.
I thought to myself, Is Jim up to this? Bill Walsh was
you have to be very dynamic, very savvy to actually pull it off with your players, to actually maintain that authority that you want to have with your guys.
The players have watched him pounds Alexs pads before games and develop a relationship with him. Players watch closely. Most coaches lose the respect of their players because at some point they see that its not authentic. And the one thing Jim has with them is hes completely authentic.
And so this ones a tough one. Its going to test Jim to see if he can maintain that same authenticity.
Bill Walsh had a really sharp knife. Youd go meet with him, and youd think things were going pretty good, and youd leave and blood is dripping down your side. You guys know Bills history he was the one that always got rid of people a year before they were ready. You do that enough, you build up a lot of resentment. But because he was so successful and so sure about it and so consistent he would look you in the eye and say, I know you dont think youre done, but youre done. And then off youd go bleeding.
Bill was phenomenal, if thats the word, at dealing with these difficult situations, and Ive seen a lot of guys fail miserably when theyve got to these white hot tough spots. It takes away from their authenticity. Jim cant just go, Gobble gobble turkey on this one. Hell have to work through it, but the good thing is he has a phenomenal locker room. A lot of mature, great young leaders that are going to be around a long time, and they truly do believe in him. He has a lot of built up equity with the guys in the locker room. Thats what he really has going for him.