National Football League

Despite losing Harbaugh, Borland and Willis, York says 49ers 'trying to win a Super Bowl'

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 9:40 p.m. ET

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James Parziale

It's been quite the offseason for the 49ers.

It started with losing their coach, Jim Harbaugh, in a tumultuous divorce that mired their entire season. This after three straight NFC title games and a Super Bowl appearance.

In addition, the retirements of linebackers Patrick Willis, 30, and Chris Borland, 24, have stunned the team and the NFL. Couple that with the free-agent losses of veterans Frank Gore, Mike Iupati, Chris Culliver and Perrish Cox, and the 49ers will look like quite a different team next season.

Of the 22 players who started in the 49ers' Super Bowl loss to the Ravens in Feb. 2013, 12 are no longer on the roster, and one more (Justin Smith) is mulling retirement.

So when team CEO Jed York did an interview with Bloomberg Business this week about the 49ers' new stadium and all its technical advances, it was interesting to hear what he had to say when the topics changed to retirements, coaches and general expectations.

Here are some choice excerpts from the interview:

On Chris Borland's retirement, York said: "We respect it, and I love Chris. He's a great kid. And it's certainly a surprise to us and I think to some of his teammates. But you have to respect the decision. If he fears for his health and safety going forward, I don't ever want somebody to go out there and do something that they're not comfortable doing. And I would never try to talk somebody out of retirement. I know it wasn't an easy decision for him, but we respect him and we wish him the best.

On replacing coach Jim Harbaugh, York said: "We're trying to win a Super Bowl. We haven't been able to do that. And I think what we're trying to do is build a team that focuses on our core strengths. I think we got away from that a little bit. I think we tried to do too much and be something that we weren't. I think you're gonna see us get back to the basics, get back to letting our players go out and make plays....You look at our offense last year. It wasn't I think where it should have been. I think we have better talent than what our results showed."

On Justin Smith reported plans for retirement, York said: "Justin has been working out with the guys. I'm not sure if he's made up his mind yet. I know he's still in that decision-making process. We obviously would love to have Justin back, but he has got to be comfortable going out there and putting his body through it one more year. And if he is not, we are going to have to step up and have somebody else make plays."

Here is the full interview:

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