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Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young pinned a portion of the blame for the 49ers’ southward spiral on a locker room that has not managed to deal with the distractions surrounding coach Jim Harbaugh and organization’s front office.
“Great teams are built from the locker room,” Young said Monday night on Monday Night Countdown, airing on ESPN. “And when locker rooms self-police and have the moral authority to tell the coach to get out, tell the owner to get out, tell the general manager to get out . . . the 49ers had one of those locker rooms.
“The most disappointing thing for me this year has been to see -- although there’s been some people that have had to step out of that locker room, (Patrick) Willis, (NaVorro) Bowman -- there’s still 10, 12, 15 guys in there. It’s still one of the great locker rooms. To see them perform and allow themselves to get distracted and play that poorly and have that little effort is the most disturbing thing for me.”
The 49ers essentially fell out of serious playoff contention on Sunday with a 24-13 loss to the Raiders, who entered the game with just one victory.
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“To me, the great teams, I don’t care if the owner and coach don’t get along,” Young added. “I don’t care if the general manager comes around at all. We take care of business. We might get beat, but we’re going to be a tough out always. That was the most disappointing thing about yesterday.”
