They were all smiles in Santa Clara on Thursday when the San Francisco 49ers formally announced Kyle Shanahan as their new head coach and former Pro Bowl safety John Lynch as their new general manager.
For all intents and purposes it was a good day for the downtrodden 49ers organization and the men tasked with turning this whole thing around.
Though, within the Lynch family itself, not everyone was happy.
“I think the toughest one. I haven’t told this yet to the media. All my kids took it really well,” Lynch said. “They were shocked but they took it really well,” Lynch said, via NFL.com. “My 9-year-old started bawling, and she’s not that girl. She’s the one that was always happy. And she was crying, and I said, ‘What’s wrong Leah? Are you afraid? Is there some nervous anxiety about moving?’ And she said, ‘No daddy,’ and she was sobbing. And I said, ‘What’s wrong?’ And she said, ‘The 49ers are horrible.’ So, I said, ‘Well, I think that’s why they hired your daddy.”
First off, color us impressed by his daughter’s already elite-level understanding of the game. The 49ers are horrible. They’re coming off a two-win season. And prior to this month, they had what had to be considered one of the most dysfunctional front offices in the NFL.
This is obviously why the team went outside the box with its hiring of Lynch, who has no front office experience, to be its new general manager.
If Lynch’s daughter is worried about failure here, that’s an understandable concern. Though, by bringing on former Broncos executive Adam Peters and Lions general manager Martin Mayhew to help him make the transition, the Hall of Fame finalist has put himself in a good position to succeed.
That doesn’t make his daughter’s response any less hilarious.