Dysfunction Has Hamstrung The Niners

The golden era of the San Francisco 49ers occurred from 1981-1994 as the team was able to capture five Super Bowl Championships over that span. During that time, then 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo referred to his team as “Camelot”, but all wasn’t  peaceful in San Francisco as he had a fractured relationship with former 49ers head coach Bill Walsh. The constant pressure of DeBartolo forced Walsh to retire following the 1988 National Football League season in spite of him leading the Niners to the Super Bowl Title that season. With the present day 49ers, Jim Harbaugh took over as the head coach in San Francisco in 2011 and in each season there he has led the team to an appearance in the NFC Championship Game. Life should be good for Harbaugh and the Niners, but that is far from the case.

After last season rumors began to swirl that there were problems between Harbuagh and 49ers general manager Trent Baalke. The rumors gained traction when the 49ers were on the verge of trading Harbaugh to the Cleveland Browns last off-season. Cooler heads appeared to somewhat prevail and Harbaugh remained with the 49ers. But Harbaugh is currently in the last year of his contract with the Niners and generally teams try to avoid having a “lame duck” head coach. Harbaugh isn’t the easiest person to get along with as he and Baalke are not on the same page and their rift is having a ripple effect on the field in San Francisco.

Along with opening up Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, the 49ers entered this season once again expected to contend for the Super Bowl. Things didn’t get started on the right foot for the 49ers as after eight games they were 4-4. The Niners would win their next three games which set up a crucial Thanksgiving Night showdown at home versus the defending Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks. The Niners were dominated by the Seahawks 19-3 in that game, but they were expected to get back on track this past Sunday as they were taking on the 1-11 Oakland Raiders. But after taking a 7-3 lead in the first quarter, the 49ers were dominated by the Raiders in every facet of the game as they lost 24-13. Now the Niners are 7-6 and with three games left in the regular season things are not looking good in San Francisco.

Due to the horrible records of the teams in the NFC South this season, it has put a stronger emphasis on teams from the other three divisions in the NFC to win their respective divisions in order to gain entry into the postseason. But with three games to go, the 49ers are two games behind the Seahawks and three behind the Arizona Cardinals who are currently the top dog in the NFC West. San Francisco has already lost once to both the Cards and Seahawks this season while they still have one game with each team.

The Niners struggles this season go back to last year’s NFC Championship Game. In the loss to the Seahawks, the 49ers lost inside linebacker Navarro Bowman to a knee injury that has kept him out of action so far this season. Bowman’s counterpart at inside linebacker in Patrick Willis was placed on season-ending injured-reserve in after Week 6 with a toe injury. Niners outside linebacker Aldon Smith was suspended by the NFL for the first nine games this season for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. Niners defensive end Ray McDonald was being investigating for his part in a domestic violence issue until he was cleared of any wrongdoing last month. Then there is the case of Niners starting quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

Kaepernick was drafted in the second round of the 2011 National Football League Draft by Harbaugh and Baalke to be the quarterback of the future for the 49ers. Midway through the 2012 NFL season, Kaepernick took over for an injured Alex Smith at quarterback and guided the Niners to a Super Bowl appearance. Kaepernick had the Niners on the verge of another Super Bowl berth last season until the big hand of Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman said otherwise. This season Kaepernicks has passed for 2,910 to go along with 16 touchdown passes, 10 interceptions, a 60.6 completion percentage, and a quarterback rating of 85.1 as he has struggled at times. In his last three games Kaepernick has thrown two touchdown passes to five interceptions.

Kaepernick is an athlete at the quarterback position that possesses many good talents. But what Kaepernick is not is a pure pocket passer. Kaepernick is at his best when he makes things happen with his legs. However when Kaepernick is asked to remain in the pocket he is simply not the same player. In last season’s NFC Championship Game, Kaepernick made plays happen with his legs in the first half and thus the Niners had a 10-3 lead at halftime. But in the second half the Seahawks were able to contain Kaepernick inside of the pocket and he wasn’t the same player as he threw multiple interceptions. That recipe has been carried over to this season in order to stop Kaepernick and the Niners must decide if they are going to make their quarterback a pure pocket passer or will they simply allow him to be an athlete. It isn’t helping Kaepernick’s development as a quarterback that the storm clouds are hanging over the head of his head coach in Harbaugh and you have to wonder that if a new regime comes in to San Francisco next season whether or not that Kaepernick will still be the starting quarterback there?

This past June, the 49ers did sign Kaepernick to a six-year extension that has the potential to be worth $126 million, but only $13 million of it is guaranteed so San Francisco has plenty of wiggle room if they would be interesting in a new signal caller in 2015.

This season the 49ers offense simply lacks explosion as they are 24th in total offense and 27th in passing offense. Niners wide receiver Anquan Boldin is as physical as they come at the position, but he is a possession receiver as San Francisco simply lacks a home-run hitter that can stretch opposing defenses.

In spite of the deficiencies on offense, the 49ers have the third ranked defense in the NFL which is keeping them in contests, but for the first time since 2010, the 49ers could be left out in the cold come January as they are fighting an uphill battle in the final three weeks of the regular season.

All signs point to a divorce between Harbaugh and the 49ers as he is not on the same page with Baalke. If the Niners front office was truly interested in re-signing Harbaugh and if he wanted to be there, a deal would have been hammered out a long time ago. At this point Dr. Phil would be unable to help Harbaugh and Baalke while MTV’s “Celebrity Deathmatch” is a thing of the past so this fractured relationship cannot be healed.

Source: Pro-football-reference.com