49ers GM John Lynch Reacts to Broncos HC Sean Payton's 'Super Bowl' Claim

For the first time since Peyton Manning hung up his cleats, the words "Super Bowl" are being uttered around Denver Broncos headquarters. It's one thing to have local press or fans assert a team is Super Bowl-caliber, but when it's the actual head coach, it takes on a different shine.

Broncos head coach Sean Payton told Yahoo! Sports earlier this week that he believes his team is "Super Bowl capable." Payton's been a head coach in the NFL since 2006, with two years off along the way (one served on suspension, another spent out of the game), and over that span, he says he's coached seven teams where he felt that Super Bowl confidence in the summer and preseason.

The 2025 Broncos are the seventh team.

On Thursday, following the Broncos' joint-practice session with the San Francisco 49ers, we heard from Payton and Kyle Shanahan. We heard from Bo Nix at the podium, as well, among others.

9NEWS' Mike Klis heard from 49ers GM John Lynch, asking the Hall-of-Fame safety about Payton's "Super Bowl" comments.

“They’re certainly in that conversation,’’ Lynch told Klis. “Mike Shanahan used to say it well, ‘All you want in this league is a chance.’ And I don’t know what it is—some people say it’s really only five teams every year (that have a chance). I think it’s a little more than that. And they’re certainly one of those that fit in that."

As a member of the Broncos' Ring of Fame, Lynch has his sympathies and biases, surely. But as a member of an NFL front office, his words carry significantly more weight and credibility.

The 49ers have become a kind of cousin team to the Broncos, mainly due to Lynch and Shanahan's ties to Denver, and the close friendship the nine-time Pro Bowler has with John Elway. Elway led the Broncos' front office from 2011 until 2022, and even interviewed Shanahan for the head-coaching vacancy in 2017. That job went to Vance Joseph, but we won't go there.

San Francisco hired Shanahan and Lynch at about the same time, and from there, the two teams built a beneficial relationship, whether it was trades, joint practices, or the Broncos signing many former 49ers players. Even after Elway stepped away, that mutually beneficial relationship has continued with Broncos GM George Paton and Lynch.

When it comes to the Broncos' 2025 outlook, Lynch thinks they have "a chance," but also illustrated how so many things have to fall in a team's favor to get over the hump and triumph as the last NFL team standing, including, but not limited to, the injury bug.

“Now, even when you’re really good—we’ve been really good for a while and we’ve gotten there twice but haven’t paid it off. It’s still hard. Injuries," Lynch told Klis. "A lot of things have to stack up. But if you want a chance, that team certainly, the Broncos this year, as I see it constructed, certainly have a chance.”

Time will tell whether all of Payton's preseason hype comes to fruition. It's certainly building an aura of expectation around the Mile High City, and that's likely according to Payton's plan.

Payton obviously wants the Broncos to feel the pressure of high expectations. Why? It's hard to say, but Payton was weaned in the Bill Parcells School of Football Psychology, so I'm sure there are multiple levels to his boisterous public pronouncements.

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With Payton, there's almost always a reason and a rhyme — a method to the madness. Here's to hoping that Nix and this young Broncos squad can rise to the occasion, and meet their head coach's bold outlook.