It’s possible that last week will go down in history as the time a new wave of vocal leaders came to the fore for the San Francisco 49ers.

The 49ers have long been a team with authoritative and charismatic veteran leaders, including linebacker Fred Warner, tight end George Kittle, running back Christian McCaffrey and left tackle Trent Williams. But at a team meeting the night before their game this week against the Chicago Bears, two of the 49ers’ younger standouts – quarterback Brock Purdy and cornerback Deommodore Lenoir – were among those who said a few words to cheer on the team.

It worked, as the 49ers turned in their most dominant performance of the season with a 38-13 win over the Bears, a much-needed result after suffering heavy losses on the road to the Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills that ended their playoff berth. Hopes dashed brought danger.

“I think the message was that we need to play with more urgency and desperation because you just didn’t really feel that,” Kittle told reporters after Sunday’s win over the Bears. “I’ve been on teams where it felt like – was it two years ago when we went on an eight, nine game winning streak, whatever it was – and it literally felt like they were People just scratch and climb every game,” and fight for everything.

“And I won’t confront anyone. None of us take part in a playoff, we simply don’t fight with all our might on every single play. And that was kind of the message.”
Guys, we’re just giving it our all because we have the players, we have the playmakers, we have the rules and we have everything to win games. But we must do it out of desperation. And when you play with desperation and say, “Hey, if we don’t win this game, our season might be over,” that desperation drives guys in different ways. And it’s just a matter of how you take that and how you channel that energy, and I thought our guys did a great job of that today.”

Kittle was among those who spoke to the team at the meeting (“He always gives the best pregame speeches, so it was definitely a help this week,” wide receiver Jauan Jennings said of Kittle), but the fact that Lenoir and Purdy were present. It seemed to mean something very special when someone took part. Purdy was elected team captain before the season, but giving speeches to the rest of the team wasn’t always part of his modus operandi.

“Kyle (head coach Kyle Shanahan) doesn’t always let the players talk… but he did when he started as head coach. “He let the veterans talk about things that were important to them and why they were playing the game,” Kittle told reporters after Sunday’s win over the Bears. “And he hasn’t done it in a while, but yeah, he got D-Mo to stand up and talk. And you know, D-Mo isn’t really – while he looks loud while he’s on the football field, he leads by example with the way he plays. But when you give people like that the opportunity to speak in front of the team, it means a lot to everyone watching, everyone in the room.

“And we all respect and love D-Mo. Not only the way he plays, he’s also a great teammate. “He shows up every day, he works hard and he plays the game the right way. And that he talks and.” then also for Brock in front of the team, which he doesn’t always do, but that he talks – and it doesn’t matter , what they say. There’s no magic rah-rah speech or anything the fact that it means enough to them when Kyle asks them to speak that they say, “Yeah, I’d like to speak to the team,” I think that alone definitely motivated the boys.”

Both Lenoir and Purdy provided a spark on the field Sunday, as Lenoir returned to the lineup after missing a 35-10 loss at Buffalo with a knee injury and Purdy rebounded from a subpar game against the Bills with a Throwing for 325 yards and two touchdowns on 20 of 25 passes. But it turns out that, at least in Purdy’s case, talking to the team also served as a form of self-help, which he used to remind himself of the intensity he would need to win on Sunday.

“I was just trying to keep it real and remind people, ‘You know, this isn’t easy. This job is not for everyone. But we have what it takes in this building and we’ve proven it.’ “In the last few years we’ve just had to dig deep and find ourselves.” And I think we’ve responded to that.

“And actually I was just talking to myself, not just trying to preach to the guys, but reminding myself how hard this thing is and how much of a competitor you have to be when you’re in it for four quarters and accepts it. Nothing ever happened.’ So it was just a reminder to myself and our teammates of where we are and where we want to go.

There was certainly a time when few people could have imagined that Lenoir and Purdy would one day be able to speak as team leaders, considering Lenoir was once a fifth-round draft pick as a rookie and Purdy made headlines for all the wrong reasons, was the last pick in his draft class and came in with some underdogs as to whether or not he would even make the team. But both are now considered cornerstones of the franchise: Lenoir signed a five-year, $93 million contract extension with the 49ers earlier this season, and Purdy expects a deal this coming offseason that will dwarf any other contract on the roster becomes. And now is the perfect time for them to take steps forward as vocal leaders, given the unexpected struggles the 6-7 49ers have had at times during a season that was expected to be a Super Bowl contender.

“I think we’ve needed this all year,” Shanahan said Sunday. “If you want to be a leader, it starts with what you do on the field. It has to be real. And if you have a certain style of play on the field and you’re out there doing things, the guys are going to do it.” Start looking at these people as leaders.

“And then it depends on how you behave and what you do in those moments. I think we had a lot of guys on this team even in the first week that maybe didn’t expect to get a lot of opportunities. “When we drafted them or back in training camp, and they got opportunities quickly. I think that’s one of the positives is that there are a lot of people that we believe in and I think they’re getting better every week. and hopefully it will be good Niners have been here for a long time.

The struggles the 49ers faced early in the season could mean Sunday’s win could still be a case of too little, too late when it comes to playoff contention, but it was one nonetheless Victory that the team desperately needed. The fact that two of the team’s younger cornerstones helped provide leadership on and off the field could prove to be an important aspect of this win for the rest of this season and beyond.

“Even though these guys don’t seem young in the way they perform, in the way they played, it’s younger guys that we need, that younger leadership to step in now and use their voice in those exact moments “We need it most,” Warner said. “And they did, man. And it’s all about execution on game day. You know, all the rah-rah talk is great and stuff, but at the end of the day you gotta go out there, you gotta play.”