The San Francisco 49ers are not where they hoped to be five games into the season. Sitting at 2-3 and with two divisional losses already, dropping a third game on Thursday night against the Seattle Seahawks could be disastrous.
The good news is that the 49ers' locker room fully understands what's at stake.
"For us, all that matters right now is Seattle [on] Thursday night, getting back into the win column and just picking up our momentum," quarterback Brock Purdy said on Tuesday.
Defensive end Nick Bosa echoed this sentiment.
"It's a lot of pressure," Bosa commented. "It's not a must-win because—I'm stealing Kyle's team meeting thing—because, technically, your season's over if it's a must-win, but it definitely feels like it, so we're treating it that way."
On Wednesday morning, general manager John Lynch joined Bay Area radio station KNBR for his weekly interview. He admitted that calling this week's game a "must-win" might be a bit of an exaggeration, but he acknowledged the urgent need for a victory in Seattle.
"There's so many different [ways to] perceive a must-win," Lynch explained. "Must-win ultimately means if you lose, you're out of it, so it's not there. But ... you go 0-3 in your division, that's not good. We've dominated our division prior to this season, but this is a new season, and we haven't done that. And we have another loss in the NFC, so the stakes are high.
"There's an easy way to make everything feel better, but there's nothing easy about how we've got to go do that, in a tough environment against a good football team on a quick turnaround. But those are the cards we've been dealt, and we've got to go see what we're made of."
Purdy understands that Thursday's game will be no easy task.
"They've got a great defense, great players that we're going against, and a great team," Purdy said. "And so, every chance and opportunity you get, you've got to be on top of it. And if you can execute and play team football, some good things can come from it."
Trust in Brock Purdy
Purdy didn't have his best outing last Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, completing just 54.3 percent of his passes—a season low—and throwing two interceptions, including one on the potential game-winning drive.
However, Lynch remains confident in his third-year quarterback, who is still on pace for over 4,600 passing yards this season.
"I keep saying it, but I've got so much belief in him," Lynch said. "I just know he's not going to not play well. If last week was him not playing well, which I don't think—I think he has a high standard ... for himself and he wants to play a complete game. He wants to finish people off when we have those opportunities, all those things. He should have that standard. I just think if he just keeps playing like Brock is capable of playing, we'll be fine.
"And Brock, he knows exactly what to do, and you go back to some of your base fundamentals, and Brock will be all right. He'll lead us. He's been fantastic, and I expect him to continue being that."
