January 19, 2020; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers former quarterback Steve Young (left) and former wide receiver Jerry Rice (right) before the NFC Championship Game against the Green Bay Packers at Levi’s Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco 49ers had high hopes coming into the 2021 NFL season. However, the team now sits at 3-5 and doesn’t appear as though they’ll make a run to the playoffs. And there are plenty of opinions about why and how this is happening.

Two guys who know what it takes to win big with the 49ers are Steve Young and Jerry Rice. Rice spent 16 seasons with San Francisco and Young was a Niners quarterback for 13 seasons, with both of them winning three Super Bowls as part of the organization. They’re both also Super Bowl MVPs, All-Pros, and Pro Bowlers.

Last week, Young appeared on KNBR’s “Tolbert, Krueger and Brooks” and relayed a discussion the two Niners legends had about the state of the team, specifically noting that the team had “no dogs.”

“I go, ‘What do you what do you think?,” Young said. “He goes, ‘There’s no dogs.’ And I got to interpret that. There’s no dogs on there. You watch the team go on, go off, everyone’s like, ‘OK.’

“When I’m talking about a locker room, I’m talking about a leadership committee that happens naturally, it’s organic. And there are certain personalities that it’s made up of, ‘over my dead body’ kind of guys — the guys that have the grit, that have the moral authority to turn at any time as a group or individually to the rest of the 50 guys and declare the truth or the moment or something that doesn’t even necessarily have to be said. Some of the groups that I played with it was just a look like, ‘Hey, yeah, now.’ Where I get concerned is that the locker rooms of the previous Super Bowl teams were best in the league kind of locker rooms.”

News of that discussion got back to some of the current San Francisco players, specifically safety Jimmie Ward, who took issue with the notion that the team lacks the kind of players needed to keep things in check.

“I respect their game when they played, but at the same time, they’re not playing anymore,” Ward told KNBR’s “Murph and Mac” on Wednesday. “So they’re doing what they need to do. They need to talk, and they need to grab the headlines, and that’s kind of how it goes when you hang up the cleats.

“If I’m not mistaken, they said there’s not enough dogs, I don’t think they said there’s no dogs, cause if there was no dogs, we’d lose a lot more games. It’s hard to win games when there’s no dogs on the field. I’m pretty sure they watch the film and know who the dogs are and who they are not.”

Ward added that he doesn’t see it as disrespectful but as a way to motivate the current team to meet the standard set by those who came before them, even if he doesn’t feel like he needs outside help.

“They’re just trying to pull the headlines, and they’re former 49ers players, so they really rooting for us, man,” Ward said. “So that’s like a message to other guys to say ‘step it up.’ I think that’s why they throwing their shots. Because I’m pretty sure when they were playing, there were guys who used to play or media, who really cared for the 49ers and were just trying to push them. They were probably saying the same thing.

“So I don’t really look at it as disrespect, I don’t really look at it as motivation. At the end of the day, I’m passionate enough about this game, I don’t need nobody telling me what I need to do or what I don’t need to do unless you’re in this building grinding with me. Then I’ll listen to you. If you’re going through what I’m going through right now, then I’ll listen to you.”

And to be fair, the 49ers did a pretty solid job beating up on the Los Angeles Rams, considered by some to be a trendy Super Bowl pick, this week. So it looks like the dogs are around after all.

[NBC Sports Bay Area]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.