Jed York Banner: San Francisco 49ers Fans Want Owner Gone
A special Jed York banner flew over the stadium today, and it reveals that San Francisco 49ers fans want their owner to sell the franchise, according to NBC Sports.
On a cool Sunday afternoon in Santa Clara, the 49ers played host to the Arizona Cardinals for a regular season game. Head coach Bruce Arians has the Cardinals sitting on an 8-2 record, which gives them a comfortable lead in the NFC West. San Francisco, on the other hand, sits at the bottom of the division. Whatever remaining fans that they have were in the stadium to root for the team. One disgruntled fan, however, decided to spend his money on letting the owner know about how he felt.
During the game, a small plane flew over Levi’s Stadium. Flowing behind the vehicle was a banner. It read, “Jed & 49ers should mutually part ways,” which is a reference to the official statement that team owner Jed York gave when he and general manager Trent Baalke decided to fire Jim Harbaugh, the head coach that led them to the Super Bowl after a decade of rebuilding. Despite all the losses in personnel that were out of his control, Niners fans are blaming York for the poor season this year.
How must @JedYork feel about this flying over his Levi's airspace? #49ers #Cardinalshttps://t.co/zFKrS13aqg pic.twitter.com/xbdOCAhuGh
— Mark Conley (@MarkConley) November 29, 2015
Blaming Jed York
Since the outcome on the field has not been what everyone had hoped for, it is easy to point the finger at York since he is ultimately the man in charge. After all, he was the one that chose Baalke over Harbaugh, a coach that fans loved because he was the one that turned the Niners around and gave them hope again. York could have done a much better job of placating the egos of both men so that they could continue to work together. Baalke and Harbaugh built a championship contender together.
However, not everything is the fault of York. When guys like Patrick Willis, Chris Borland, Anthony Davis, and Justin Smith decide that it is time to walk away from the game, then an owner should allow them to do so. Otherwise, York will be viewed as someone that does not care about the health and well being of his players. Losing free agents like Frank Gore, Mike Iupati and Michael Crabtree should not be blamed on the owner, either, as those were done for salary cap reasons.
There is a very slim chance that York actually obeys the banner and sells the team, especially since this is the first year under new head coach Jim Tomsula. The only thing that Jed can do is to keep building the team. He should hope that fans can see the progress being made in San Francisco and seeing him in a different light. York has already shown that he is willing to spend money on the team, as evident by the $114 million contract handed to quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
York needs to keep Baalke around. He’s a good general manager when it comes to finding talent. York just needs to have a talk with Baalke about being more willing to work with a head coach. Someone like Tomsula might not have the clout yet to stand up to his general manager, but if San Francisco were to bring in a more vocal head coach like Jon Gruden or Bill Cowher, then Baalke is going to need to know where he stands. York just needs to keep ignoring the fans.
Do you think Jed York should sell the San Francisco 49ers?
[Featured Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
