49-22-1. This is what Jim Harbaugh did his 4 years as the Niner head coach. What is his legacy? Well to me, it’s falling short. The standard is was and should be winning the Super Bowl. With Jjmbo here we went from outhouse to penthouse in one strike-shortened preseaon in 2011. In the process he turned Alex Smith from a perennial close-but-not quite guy to a 13-3 QB on a roll. But for 2 fumbles, this team is in the Super Bowl.
Next year, Harbaugh gets the team in position to win the Super Bowl. Until the game starts and they dig themselves an impossible hole to dig out of. But for a delay of game, the Niners win. Last year? Well, close but not quite again. This year started a disaster 2 months before the season started and it never got much better despite better weapons and supposed more continuity.
So, on his last day as the 49er coach, Jimbo wins game 49. Quite a legacy, and Jimbo should be given credit for instilling a winning attitude for a moribund franchise, However, he did inherit a team with a pretty strong roster, One loaded with high draft picks, and talent. For as quickly as things changed, and they were tantalizingly close to reaching their goals those 3 times, they fell short. The part I didn’t like was how Harbaugh leaned on his defense a lot of the time. Give him an early lead and he’ll sit on it. Fall behind, and he’ll grudgingly get aggressive. For all the talent they had, I think they left a lot of points on the field, and many times they were not prepared come game time.
What happens now? I have a pretty good idea that they are going to keep this shit in-house. Which means Mike Tomsula. Which means that other coaches may start defecting. Greg Roman is surely gone. The offensive coaches should be shit-canned. Well, keep Rathman (and Gore for that matter). John Morton? Seeing the ineffectiveness of the WRs for the most part, gone. The line coaches can go as we will more than likely look to change the blocking style.
I wonder if promoting Tomsula over Fangio will mean Fangio leaves. I hope he stays as he did a remarkable job with a defense riddled by injury. Harbaugh never did him many favors, and he is likely in the running as HC. Whatever they do, I hope they find someone to take this offense to a new level. For all the troubles this year, injuries played a big part of the problems, and this team still has a ton of talent. They are not in rebuilding mode,and should be considered a playoff contender when the next traiing camp breaks.
Forty Niners Forever 
The end of the JH era. this year has been loaded with problems. From Management to coaching to players. Now if you believe the players, they state they are just playing the way they are told to play. which means this has been a coaching disaster. How can you be ranked 5th in the league in scoring in the first half of games and ranked 27 in the second half of games. obviously Defenses made adjustments at the half and the offensive play calling made none. 0, zip. The biggest thing I notice with the games the Niner lost, was that there was no urgency to score and score quickly. In the San Diego game, the Chargers went into their 2 min offense with 7 minutes to go in the game. The Niners plod up to the line and Kaep goes through his usual play calling upon what the defense is showing only to get a delay of game called. I truly doubt Harbaugh/Roman have a 2 min drill play calling scheme.
The only successful 2 min offense we used was the first drive in the first AZ game.
This divorce between the 49ers and Harbaugh is reminding me more of a funeral in that when somebody dies everybody says nice things about that person. Having said that, I do think the players do genuinely love Harbaugh. I think his problem was with the players tired of Roman’s play calling. I don’t think the locker room was ever fractured, I think it was more of a frustration to the point a mutiny was forming over Roman. Now that it has passed it has become more of a love fest for the coach they did love and respect.
That very well may be, Bergs, but Harbaugh never did anything about it. I was sick of his shit before last season started.
Does anyone really know why this split came about? By that press conference, the principles stated they had to hold everyone more accountable for their off the field stuff. Under Harbaugh the players were not very accountable for off the field transgressions? Was Harbaugh the type who looked the other way on misbehavior? Was he too close to his players? Was he too distant from upper management? Did he hide stuff from upper management? Who really knows? Football questions were never really addressed as they are on this forum.
Here is a clue Nipper, Harbaugh went from $5 mil a year to $8 mil a year and perhaps the highest paid HC in all of football. All the rest is window dressing.
This is not worth much but suggests Roman will go with Harbaugh:http://www.ninersnation.com/2014/12/29/7464089/greg-roman-expected-to-go-to-michigan-with-jim-harbaugh-according-to
Roman is not an NFL caliber OC and I expect he will end up in college again with or without Harbaugh.
If he stays in the NFL it will likely be as a running backs coach.
This says Baalke wanted Odell Beckham, Harbaugh didn’t. It also says Baalke needed to give up a 1,2 and 3 to get him which was too rich for his blood.
http://www.ninersnation.com/2014/12/29/7465321/trent-baalke-says-the-49ers-tried-to-trade-up-for-odell-beckham-jr
Differ thinks Niners will be better next year:
http://www.mercurynews.com/49ers/ci_27224230/trent-dilfer-says-49ers-will-improve-without-harbaugh?source=infinite
I haven’t heard those type of comments before. I didn’t want to see Harbaugh go but I think he would have retained Roman so I’m glad he’s gone. Players did look confused on offense and I commented on that.
Bear in mind Berger it is Dilfer, but these are some of the things we have discussed. Shitty RZ, horrible 3rd down percentage, no hurry up when they should be hurrying up, etc, etc. Why the hell is the O sauntering up to the LOS and doing the same 2 play crap using all the play clock, play after play, when down 2 scores and time is running out? Is that the QB or the coaches and if it is the QB how come the coaches don’t call TO and set him straight?
Who carries the can for these persistent issues? Many point at Kap but don’t acknowledge that even if it was Kap, why didn’t coaches correct it year after year? And BTW it was because of the O scheme IMO.
Ray Ratto on Harbaugh:
“He loved his players but lost a number of them along the way with his quirky delivery systems; no players copped to that side of him Sunday but that will come. Harbaugh does have the gift of erosion, and he will have to alter his ways of daily interaction to reduce that part of his repertoire.”
The beat writers know there are players who tired of Harbaugh. Today was a number of players sending Harbaugh off into the sunset. As Ratto says, the other side of the story will be told in time too.
Randy Moss, Trent Dilfer, Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Deion Sanders, amongst others, have all talked of player dissatisfaction to one level or another.
For me I think the creativity had run its course and Harbaugh simply wanted to be paid the most in the NFL without actually earning it with SB wins. If he had dumped Roman and gotten a quality OC I was for him staying but he simply wouldn’t do it.
12th these issues with the 2 plays in the huddle preceded Kappy. It even preceded Harbaugh. Sing and Nolan both did it with Smith iirc. We been wasting timeouts for years.
Jim was hired to be the HC.
He did an excellent job of uniting the locker room and, established a good hard-nosed attitude within them as well.
What I can’t understand is, the reason he put so many demands on the FO?
He’s obviously a players Coach, a former QB, someone who lived for the game.
There appears to have been some sort of disdain for authority perhaps?
Somewhat of a bi-polar disorder maybe, when you have the abilities to unite players yet, alienate Mgt.
Many have suggested that Jed and Trent orchestrated the leaks surrounding the Cleveland ordeal.
Maybe now, in hindsight, it was all about driving a wedge into Contract changes?
As with players, I hold the Coaches to the same standard.
You accepted the Contract, and the terms dictated, when you signed on.
Honor your Contract as written.
Trent suggested at the PC today that Jim didn’t ask for additional power regarding player selections.
He also made it clear that his Contract is written to give him control over the roster, which I suspect most GMs would have in this League.
For me, it was, and has been, about the inability to develop a more robust Offense.
The next guy inline for the HC duties might very well trump Tomsula, simply because of the need to develop Kaep, and a more pro-ready passing attack.
We’ll have plenty to speculate on until that question is answered.
Keep this in-house. By all I’m sure you’ve all heard the news that we won’t be back in SF next season. My dad was told the Monday following the loss in Seattle that he would not be back in 2015. I wish you could’ve been told then. It obviously wasn’t my place to break the news. I know there have been months of rumors and speculation leading up to this over the course of a year so I just want to make sure you all know the whole story.
You need to first realize that my dad loved this city and team. He chose to coach here for a reason 3 years ago. He believed they could go far. It’s why leaving is so difficult. You also need to know that he would’ve stayed if he could have. Unfortunately, he wasn’t given such an option, and was disappointed by that.
There have been hundreds of reports from journalists each with varying reasons on why he was leaving/what the locker room atmosphere was like. Those people know nothing more than the average person about what goes on behind closed doors. They’re in the business of looking for drama and stirring up controversy. I can’t blame them. It’s in their job description. That being said, I’ve yet to see a single article that truly depicted the real story.
Last summer a story came out about a potential head coach trade with the Cleveland Browns. If that seemed like it came out of left field for you, it did for us too. It was brought up by someone in the Browns front office who we knew, but it was a one sided conversation. The idea wasn’t even entertained. Yet the media fed off of it, and created a story line where there was no story, and thus, we came into the current season with questions regarding my dads future with the team. Like the trade rumors, reports of locker room discontent also came as a shock.
Nothing I saw in 3 years of being at the facility, on the team plane, and in the locker room at games ever even suggested anything of the sort. I don’t care to point fingers because in the end it doesn’t really matter who planted the rumors. The mere fact that they existed is enough.All I’ll say is it wasn’t a player or analyst as most have said. Look up what happened with Jimmy Johnson and the Cowboys for reference.
This is a talented team, and I believe they can still win. Injuries plagued us in a year that could’ve been special. The fans have sometimes forgotten that, and placed too much unnecessary criticism on the players we did have that stepped up or played through injury. However, there are still deep rooted problems in SF that need to be fixed to win the sixth Super Bowl. I’ll just list a few of them to make this brief.
1. The front office
We were aware and were told about the reputation of the teams front office when we came…we are well aware now.
2. Stadium
There was no consistent home field advantage at Levi’s stadium this year. I desperately wanted there to be one, but honestly, if I were on any other team, I’d love to play against our team there. You can blame the design, but it really starts with the fans. If you ever want to win at home next year and beyond YOU HAVE TO STAY IN YOUR SEATS IN THE SECOND HALF AND BE LOUD THE WHOLE TIME, NOT JUST ON THIRD DOWN WHEN THE TEAM IS AHEAD. It was dead silent at times when the opposing team was on offense. Trust me, u despised teams like the Seahawks and Saints, but their fans are loud from start to finish. They really do make an impact. It’s possible here too.
3. Keep Frank Gore
No one wants to win/cares as much about football as much as Frank. He was my favorite player on the team. Sign him.
4. The front office
We were aware and were told about the reputation of the teams front office when we came…we are well aware now. I have respect for everyone there don’t get me wrong, but I don’t feel the season needed to end this way.
Lastly I just want everyone to think before you point fingers and blindly just throw criticism around. Everyone in the 49er organization had the same record for the past 3 years. Winning or losing is a team effort, and can never be put on a single person. All of this stuff you’ve been saying around around about the unwillingness to fire assistant coaches leading to us leaving and my dad losing interest to coach just isn’t true. He fought with maximum effort and intensity till the very end.
I always tell my dad about the good things you all have to say. Your support doesn’t go unnoticed. I wish you all the best and I hope the team be successful in the future for the sake of the fans. This city deserves it.
Thank you for a four amazing years.
WHOS GOT IT BETTER THAN US?
One College Coach to keep an eye on down the road will be the OC for Ohio State, Tom Herman.
He just took a HC gig in Houston but, he’s done some good work for Urban Meyer and has the Buckeyes Offense clicking.
They run something similar to what Chip does in Philly, up-tempo base packages that minimize Defensive substitutions.
Keep an eye open for WR Devin Smith and TE Jeff Heuerman too.
Anxious to see them against a good ‘Bama Defense.
http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/tom_herman_789601.html
Chico, don’t know of you saw this but James Harbaugh reported his FB account was hacked and to disregard anything coming from it.
He was the supposed author of the long letter you posted.
Good chance that letter was actually posted by James Harbaugh and then told to disown it? It sounded like an article that was legit. Who knows?
I can’t know what happened that got Harbaugh sent packing but my opinion is money and bad offensive design was behind it. At this point it doesn’t matter anymore, time to look forward.
Jimbo was good for us. When we hired him many said he would only be here for about 4 years. Those people were right.
IMO, the culture started to change with Singletary. He brought a toughness and quit feeling sorry for ourselves attitude. He just had no concept of how to run an offense.
Enter Harbaugh. He was tough like Sing and added some crazy to the attitude. His offense was similar but had some better philosophy about it until Fisher showed everybody how to stop it by loading the box. Jimbo tried to adjust this year but did not have the know how to run the offense he tried to implement. It was the right and logical step to take, he just didn’t implement it correctly. He is used to running a smash mouth power game and infusing the element of surprise. The new offense he tried to run is based more on just keeping the defense off balance instead of the element of surprise. His biggest mistake IMO was hen he didn’t stay with the running game when he switched offensive alignments. And calling two plays in the huddle is always a losing system in my opinion. It is a built in delay of game factory. But all in all, Jimbo was good for us.
Let’s take this opportunity to improve what Jimbo brought and seize the day!
I think the front office got tired about hearing how great Harbaugh was. That, and how he wanted a raise after year one.
The FIGJAM principle.
Fuck
I’m
Great
Just
Aks
Me
Unca- I’m not sure money was the biggest issue but it had to factor.
Anybody who says money wasn’t a factor can’t thinking rationally. The reason I think money wasn’t the biggest factor is I think Harbaugh would have came back and coached his last year if asked. I don’t know that is true, it is just how I feel. But make no mistake, he wanted more money.
I just read about Harbaugh’s contract. He got quite a raise which leads to the speculation it was about the money. His base is initially the same as it was in SF but he gets 10% raises in yrs 3 and 5. He also got a 2 mil signing bonus, which means 7 mil in year one. He has a lot of incentives to drive the price up. When you factor in the endorsements he will get in Michigan and not having to pay the high Cal state tax of 13.2%, he got a huge raise.
Still, I don’t think money was the number one issue. It probably would have been next year. I think something else was the number one reason he left. We will probably never know but my guess is it was Roman and how confused our offense looked this year. Harbaugh probably drew the line on being told to fire an assistant. He is fiercely loyal. Just a guess.