Just saw on the ESPN crawl that Jim Harbaugh is ‘torn’ about accepting the Michigan job. His friends and family are encouraging him to take it, but he says he’s curious about what is around in the NFL. In other words, Jimbo is looking for more money. He’s going to play coy and see who writes the biggest check. I still think it’s going to be Michigan after all is said and done.
Frankly, I’m glad. Yeah, this regime of ineptitude could very hire another shitty coach and we go into the toilet again for 4 years, but I don’t see this team as it is currently constituted doing well if everything stays in place. Not that it could even come to pass, but Harbaugh has a habit of doing exactly what he’s doing here and that’s pissing off everyone around him. Not that this is a determining factor to keep a coach, but Harbaugh was handed the keys to a very talented but underachieving team. He basically rode the team by time and again leaning on the defense to make stops and keep the scores low.
For Harbaugh supposedly being an offensive coach, this was curious to me. There’s trying to be smashmouth and there’s constantly leaving points on the field. Whether Smith or Kaepernick was the QB, the offense was a lot like the previous offense. A whole lot of Gore and a whole lot of keeping the scores down. The offensive problems plaguing this team from day one of the Harbaugh era remain. No sense of urgency in getting plays off quickly, using up all of the play clock and more, red zone inefficiencies, and the inexplicable inability to make any kind of offensive adjustments on the fly.
This season it became insanely apparent as the 49ers were able to score pretty well in the first halfs of games, scoring an average of 13 points in the first half, and sucking down to an average of 5 points in the 2nd half of their games this season. This leads me to believe these coaches can game plan during the week pretty well, but when teams adjust things at the half, the 49ers don’t counter the changes they face, and end up fading as the defense ends up playing too much in the end. The 3 wins over NO, NYG, and Washington all followed this path, and the losses to Chi, AZ, Seattle, StL, and Oakland followed this deal. Early leads given up in the 2nd half.
The defense has been able to keep these games close over the years, but not this year. This year’s offense seemed bound and determined to abandon the run completely, and the results are pretty obvious to see. No continuity, massive substitutions and motion, all destined to use up play clock and stow down the offense. The same inane pass plays. Outs and fades. Nothing over the middle anymore. No screens, no slants, nothing to slow down the relentless pressure Kaepernick faced. To the tune of the most sacks in the league.
The game tomorrow? All I can hope for is no injuries as we play out the string.
Forty Niners Forever 
Since we don’t know the language involved with Harbaughs’ Contract, it’s tough to know how this perception of walking away with $5M plays out.
Seems to me Jed isn’t giving away that sort of money without some sort of leverage.
IMO, Jed put Baalke in place to run the football side of the Operation.
If Jim and Trent can’t see eye-to-eye on how this Team should be assembled, what’s the point of prolonging the agony?
Players are openly frustrated with the results of getting to the dance and, failing to achieve the prize.
Time to fish or cut bait.
Painful as it is, to see success fall short, it’s pretty obvious that there needs to be improvements, especially on the Offensive side of the spectrum.
If I had to speculate regarding the rumor of a swift decision being made, I’d guess Jim plans to recoup that money from Michigan?
We’ll hear soon enough I guess.
Seems to me Jim is all about running the show ‘his’ way.
Whatever the stories are behind the scenes, I don’t ever recall seeing a disparaging word come from Jed regarding the dismissal of McCloughan.
Many speculated that it was an alcohol related scenario.
It’s a multi-million dollar business, it needs continuity to run successfully.
When things disrupt the balance, changes need to be made.
For all the shortcomings associated with Vernon this season, I give him credit for comments he made suggesting ‘he came here to catch passes’.
Either he’s frustrated with Kaep or, the system in general.
Draw your own conclusions on what was intended with those remarks.
Something else to speculate on, perhaps?
The addition of OT Jon Martin.
Baalke’s call or Jim’s?
Could there have been some ulterior motive tied to the absence of Anthony Davis for as long as occurred in favor of JMartin?
To that topic, I’ve also felt that LMJ was a Harbaugh request as well.
I recall reading a comment that Jim hated to game plan against him while at Stanford hence, he held him in high regard.
Again, purely speculation on my part but, it does make me think about some of the dynamics that may have played out, with the discord attached to the Jim/Trent relationship.
With the Warriors playing so well and the Giants winning a World Series it is easy to not get too bogged down about the 49ers this year. Jed needs to pull a Joe Lacob this off-season. Fire a popular winning coach and replace him with somebody better. Like the Warriors, our depth should be better next year with all the back-ups getting so much playing time this year.
Berger it’s just sad this had to come to this.
As you’ve said, Jed was forced to make a decision between 2 guys that can’t come to an understanding on what needs to be done.
We’ve sucked before.
We got a taste of the Playoffs as well.
Unfortunately, as good as our Defense has been, the Offense couldn’t get it done when it mattered.
Playing the blame game serves no purpose now.
Back to the drawing board, regroup, retool, refocus.
Hopefully, lessons have been learned for all concerned.
I agree. The blame game doesn’t get us anywhere. The people in the know said this would happen with Harbaugh in about 4 years. Obviously they were right. Too bad Jimbo could not deliver a title. Like the coaches like to say about injuries, it’s next man up.
Depending on what transpires next week, regarding the Coaching changes, I’d keep Rex Ryan on the radar for a DCo, if Fangio can’t be retained.
He’s competent for a 3-4 scheme IMO.
Bringing back an old NJ/SF guy like Dan Quinn wouldn’t be a bad thing either.
We’ll see where all this hubris settles soon enough.
For now there’s only one thing left –
In Memory of Buddy ‘Bugs’ Henderson….
Heartbreak Gumbo –
People getting fired, people dying, and Santa is missing my abode again…….BLEEP IT! Where’s my beans and wieners? Some cheap wine and I’m good to go.
Gotta love Twitter
Matt Barrows@mattbarrows·10 mins10 minutes ago
Good attempt. But Raiders sent stripper-gram … @umichfootball: Happy Birthday, Jim. #GoBlue
I still have a little space left that wants Harbaugh back if he would just see the light about his offense. I think that ship has sailed inre to him staying.
At Michigan he can run his college offense but if he stays in the pros he will need to develop a better scheme. If some miracle happens and he stays I will support him but be very skeptical about his offense, to the point of being loud. Since it looks like we are getting a new coach let the event happen. I hope we do good. Just remember, in 49erland the only goal is the Lombardi Trophy. Just winning is entertaining but not good enough. Any Eddie D fan knows that is true.
One more thing. If the report is true Harby is mulling other offers and already checking out then I want him out of here ASAP. Since I personally do not know the truth I’ll just sit back and wait it out. Like I said before, I hope we do good!
Happy Birthday to coach Harbaugh!
He’s gone in mind and spirit. Only the body remains. He’s got to make more money than his older brother no matter what.
Ha, just checked the espn league and found I won it. That’s different. At this point we need to stop the bleeding. We are a dysfunctional org. and blaming anyone for it is not gonna change anything. We will know soon enough if our young leader is sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong or not. We are probably going to lose quite a few players this year and to be honest, so what. I am praying that Bowman, Hunter, and a few others can make it back. To me the biggest problem area is OL & DL but that’s still just the tip of the iceburg. To me trying to compare a new HC to Harbaugh would not even be possible. I am waiting and would be happy to see some fun and interesting 49er football.
Harbaugh gets a lot of credit for winning. But he inherited a very good team. Say what you will about Pete Carroll, but he and his org built it from ground up.
McLoughan looks more and more like the architect of both these franchises. With some line stability and s more offensive minded coach and this team should be fine. Granted they get some speed.
A lot of onconsisyency all around this team. Due to many factors.
New thread is up…..