The San Francisco 49ers' 2017 season hasn't started as well as general manager John Lynch had hoped. He has had to endure watching the group of players he helped gather suffer through an ugly Week 1 home loss to the Carolina Panthers and then a tough but close Week 2 road loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
The 49ers defense has shown significant improvement over its 2016 counterpart. Last season, the unit gave up an average of 406 yards per game – ranking last in the NFL. This season, the defense has gotten that number down to 300 yards per game, which is good enough to rank them 10th in the league.
The offense, on the other hand, has not seen the same improvement. It ranks last in the NFL in total offense and 31st in both passing yards and scoring. Quarterback Brian Hoyer, who was brought in because of his familiarity with head coach Kyle Shanahan's offense, managed just 99 yards passing in Seattle on Sunday. Through 21 possessions and eight quarters of play, Hoyer has failed to lead the 49ers offense into the end zone.
As is often the case when a starting quarterback struggles, Hoyer's slow start out of the gate has been enough for a number of fans to campaign for rookie backup C.J. Beathard to see some playing time. However, it is unlikely that the 49ers make a switch anytime soon since the general manager John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan continue to show support for their starting signal caller.
On Wednesday night, Lynch joined the "Tolbert & Lund" show on KNBR and discussed Hoyer and Beathard.
"One of the reasons that we brought Brian in, I think you saw him take ownership this week and say, 'Listen, I have to be better,'" Lynch said. "What I would say is everyone needs to be better because, while it hasn't been perfect, I think when I talk about those missed opportunities, there's been opportunities where we could have really helped Brian.
"Like I said, Brian has owned it. But what he needs to know is his teammates have his back and that's when you start to become good as a team is when you pick up someone who's struggling a little bit and that's what we intend to do. I think Kyle's doing a tremendous job, as is (quarterbacks coach) Rich Scangarello and that entire offensive staff. Putting them in position to be successful.
"Usually, that's half the battle. The hard thing is running the football in this league. When you can do that, it usually leads to success in throwing the football because they dedicate resources to stop it. We've got that going for us. Now, we've just got to start executing in the pass game.
"We've watched Brian do it throughout the offseason. We've watched him do it throughout his career. Now, he's just got to go put it out there and we're confident that he will. That some of these things are going to start going our way and we've got to help him out in doing so."
While he complimented the progress of the 49ers' rookie quarterback, Lynch dismissed the possibility that a quarterback controversy might arise anytime soon.
"We know this is a collective effort and everyone wants to know about C.J. Beathard. We're very high on C.J. and he's getting better each and every day. He really is. He gets great work at practice and we're encouraged by that. Right now, this is Brian's team and we really believe that he's going to play a lot better and we're proud of the way he's handling the tough start right now."
Lynch also analyzed the 49ers' opponent on Thursday night – the Los Angeles Rams – and their quarterback, Jared Goff. While he had a less than stellar rookie campaign, Goff has seen improvement in 2017. Last season, through seven starts, he completed 54.6-percent of his passes for 1,089 yards, five touchdowns, and seven interceptions.
This season, the second-year quarterback has completed 66.7-percent of his passes for 530 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception while earning a passer rating of 103.2. Lynch credits much of Goff's improvement to Rams rookie head coach Sean McVay.
"I will tell you, though, that they're playing well," Lynch said. "(Rams head coach) Sean McVay's done a really, really good job. And I watched Jared Goff -- geez, I had him in a game against New England (when I was a color commentator) -- and he didn't look like he belonged on the field last year. And he's made tremendous progress and I think that's one of Sean McVay's strengths is getting his quarterbacks to play well and I think he's done a great job. It's just a 180 in terms of the way he looks on the field.
"So, I think that goes a long way and their defense has always had talented football players. They've got a great coach in Wade Phillips. So a lot of challenges but this is one -- we need one. We've got a lot of belief that, like I said, we've been taking steps in the right direction. The next step is to put a W on the scoreboard for us."
You can listen to the entire interview with Lynch below.
