The San Francisco 49ers were once the shining example of success in the National Football League. From 1981-2002 the Niners only suffered three losing seasons and in the process they won five Super Bowl Championships. After a 10-6 season in 2002, Steve Mariucci was fired as the 49ers head coach which sunk the team into their worst stretch since the 1970’s. The Niners would then suffer through eight consecutive losing seasons and in the process they had four different head coaches which was a stark contrast from 1981-2002 when the 49ers only employed three different head coaches. The 49ers search for a new head coach in 2011 didn’t require them to travel that far as they went to nearby Palo Alto, California and sought out the services of former Stanford University head football coach Jim Harbaugh. From 2003-2010 the 49ers record was 46-82 without one trip to the playoffs. Under Harbaugh, the 49ers have a regular season record of 36-11-1 with a 5-3 postseason record which has been highlighted by them winning the NFC Championship in 2012. Harbaugh has brought the 49ers back to what they were in the 1980’s under former head coach Bill Walsh; a well-oiled machine that consistently contends for Super Bowl Titles. But all of the recent success by the 49ers was on the verge of being washed away last week.
According to NFL.SI.com’s Doug Farrar, there is growing tension between Harbaugh and Niners general manager Trent Baalke. Harbaugh has developed a reputation as a tough man to get along with and in the NFL the head coach and general manager “must” be on the same page. But success on the field does not always guarantee employment for a head coach in the NFL.
In 1994 after winning consecutive Super Bowl Championships as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Jimmy Johnson departed Texas due to the fact that he could not get along with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Jones wanted to take all of the credit for the team’s success figuring that any coach could have led the Cowboys to the Super Bowl. Jones got his wish in 1995 when Barry Switzer was the head coach that led the Cowboys to a Super Bowl Championship with the players that Johnson developed. But since 1996, the Cowboys record is 136-136 with six different head coaches.
In 2006, the San Diego Chargers were the top team in the AFC with a record of 14-2. Former Chargers head coach Marty Schottenheimer had an icy relationship at best with former Chargers general manager A.J. Smith which was bad for business. After the Chargers home loss in the AFC Divisional Playoffs to the New England Patriots, the dam broke for good and after a heated argument, Schottenheimer was fired.
York will have to make a tough decision very soon because it appears that either Baalke or Harbaugh are going to have to leave San Francisco. Baalke has been with the 49ers organization since 2005, but he assumed the general manager duties in 2011; the same year that Harbaugh came to San Francisco. But who deserves more of the credit for the 49ers turnaround?
When Harbaugh joined the 49ers in 2011 he had to change the culture in the locker room in San Francisco. After eight consecutive non-winning seasons, some players in the 49ers locker room were expecting to lose and Harbaugh immediately changed that. Harbaugh led the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game in 2011 with a starting quarterback in Alex Smith that had been primarily an afterthought up to that point of his NFL career. Harbaugh came back in 2012 and led the 49ers to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1994 and his team was only a few yards away from winning a championship with a quarterback in Colin Kaepernick that only had a few starts under his belt. After winning their first two playoff games on the road this past season, the 49ers were denied a second consecutive trip to the Super Bowl by the hand of Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman which gives you an idea of how close the Niners are to breaking through and winning an NFL Championship.
Harbaugh is a proven winner that has won at every stop along the way as a head coach. From 2004-2006, Harbaugh had a record of 29-6 at the University of San Diego. In 2007, Harbaugh took over a Stanford football program that had only one victory in the previous season. By 2010, Stanford had a complete turnaround which was highlighted by an Orange Bowl victory and a 12-1 record.
Since Baalke took over as the 49ers general manager he and Harbaugh really have not been on the same page when it comes to the personnel decisions in San Francisco.
The fact that reports surfaced about Harbaugh potentially being traded to the Browns lets you know who York is sided with in this feud and it is Baalke.
We are more than six months away from the start of the 2014 NFL season, but the Niners are already putting themselves behind the eight ball due to the fact that their foundation is cracked. Instead of talking about the brand new Levi’s Stadium that is set to open this year as the new home of the 49ers in Santa Clara, or the potential of prepping for another Super Bowl run, the Niners will have this dark cloud hanging over their organization for the entire season. Every time that a mistake happens on the field or if the 49ers lose a game, the feud between Baalke and Harbaugh will be referenced.
What made the 49ers so successful for numerous years was that their organization was treated as if it was a family. Former 49ers head coach Bill Walsh always appeared to be on the same page with owner Eddie DeBartolo and general manager Carmen Policy which reflected in the team’s play on the field.
For 2014 what York more than likely will need do is go into his piggy bank and offer up some more money to Harbaugh simply to let him know that as an organization we goofed. The other problem is that the other 31 NFL teams have seen these reports about the recent dysfunction in San Francisco and if a front office has any doubts about their head coach in 2014, they can already begin making preparations as far as a run at Harbaugh in 2015 because this season will more than likely be his last time around the block with the Niners.
After the Seahawks defeated the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game they were able to have a sigh of relief as San Francisco was their toughest opponent in 2014 which was evident in their 43-8 spanking of the Denver Broncos a few weeks ago in the Super Bowl. What York, Baalke, and Harbaugh should be doing now is working to improve the 49ers in 2014 as they have been so close in the past three seasons to winning a championship. Instead the hornet’s nest is buzzing in San Francisco and nothing good is going to come out of it.
Sources: Sports-reference.com, Pro-football-reference.com
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