San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch had a strong opinion about the idea of NFL teams tanking for higher draft placement. With this season lost for the 49ers, some fans have already checked out and would rather just see the 49ers lose the remainder of their games to secure a top pick.
If the season ended today, San Francisco would own the No. 1 pick thanks to the team having a weaker strength of schedule compared to the Oakland Raiders and Arizona Cardinals, both of which also own 2-8 records. Wins would, of course, threaten San Francisco's draft position.
While the 49ers' season may have seemingly ended late in the fourth quarter of Week 3 when their franchise quarterback was lost for the year, the team remains focused on here and now rather than something that is five months away. The 49ers are determined to win as many of their final six games as possible.
Lynch joined 95.7 The Game on Tuesday and was asked about teams potentially tanking to move or stay higher in the draft order.
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"I can tell you that's just not the reality," Lynch said on the "Joe, Lo & Dibs" show. "I think when you look at our season, what is it? Five games that have come down to the last drive? I think the one thing that we've learned loud and clear is that we need to learn to finish better. We've had ample opportunity to win games and this season could be completely different despite the injuries to key players that we've talked about. And so we've been right there."
The 49ers have lost four games this season by four-or-fewer points. They could easily be 6-4 rather than 2-8 despite injuries at crucial positions.
Just because the team isn't trying to lose games doesn't mean it won't use the remaining matchups to evaluate the roster. That comes with being 2-8, says Lynch.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan has made it clear to his players that they will have to earn opportunities to prove they should be part of the team's future. They can think of the next six weeks as an audition for 2019.
As for tanking, that's not in Lynch and Shanahan's makeup.
"This regime, I can tell you, as long as I'm around, and I know Kyle (agrees), we will never get involved in that," Lynch added. "We will try to win each and every week. Unfortunately, we haven't been good enough at doing that this year, and that needs to change. That's been said loud and clear to our players as well. When you have the opportunity, you've got to finish it, and that's something we're going to work hard on starting this week against the Buccaneers."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.
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