January 19, 2014 appears to be a very distant memory for the San Francisco 49ers. The Niners were attempting to return to the Super Bowl for a second consecutive season. But a crippling knee injury to 49ers middle linebacker NaVorro Bowman and the great defensive skills of Seattle Seahawks cornberback Richard Sherman were San Francisco’s downfall in the NFC Championship Game. Then the reports began to surface that the 49ers were serious in considering to trade their head coach Jim Harbaugh to the Cleveland Browns as the relationship between Harbaugh and 49ers general manager Trent Baalke had become extremely toxic. Cooler heads appeared to prevail, but the tension was there all season long between Harbaugh and Baalke. And with that the 49ers 2014 National Football League season was derailed as they finished with a record 8-8. Albeit that 2014 was the only season under Harbaugh that the Niners didn’t at least make the NFC Championship Game, but due to his relationship or lack thereof with Baalke, he was sent packing. For Harbaugh he landed on his feet as he is now the head football coach at his alma mater in the University of Michigan. Baalke didn’t have look that far to replace Harbaugh as he promoted 49ers defensive line coach Jim Tomsula to be the team’s new head coach.
But heading into next season the 49ers will have a completely different feel from the team that consistently contended for the Super Bowl Title under Harbaugh. Under Harbaugh, Vic Fangio spent the last four years as the 49ers defensive coordinator. Fangio is now the defensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears and he has been replaced on the 49ers by former New York Jets and Cleveland Browns head coach Eric Mangini. Like Fangio, offensive coordinator Greg Roman served on Harbaugh’s 49ers coaching staff, but he is now the offensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills while he has been replaced in San Francisco by Geep Chryst. Running back Frank Gore is the 49ers all-time leading rusher with 11,073 yards. But Gore will be 32-years old this May and with the 49ers no longer willing to commit to him long term, he is set to sign with the Philadelphia Eagles. Defensive end Justin Smith is a 14-year NFL vet and after spending the last seven years of his career with the Niners, he is going to retire. But the biggest bombshell out of the Bay Area this off-season came yesterday when news surfaced that 49ers middle linebacker Patrick Willis is set to join Smith in retirement. Willis is a seven-time Pro Bowl selection and at 30-years of age he was expected to carry the mantle from former Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher and former Baltimore Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis as the best inside backers in the game. But injuries have begun to catch up to Willis which makes it easy to understand his reasoning to walk away. The 49ers have now lost the heart and soul of their football team in Gore, Smith, and Willis while they parted with a tremendous head coach in Harbaugh due to the fact that he could not see eye-to-eye with Baalke. And their could be more personnel moves coming down the pike for the Niners.
Jim Tomsula
Tomsula is not committed for 49ers starting quarterback Colin Kaepernick long-term as he was not the head coach that drafted him. It’s also not a guarantee that players such as veteran wide receiver Anquan Boldin will be in a 49ers uniform when the regular season rolls around this September. And with the retirement of Justin Smith, more pressure and focus will be put on 49ers outside linebacker Aldon Smith who has had his fair share of off-the-field issues. The 49ers secondary has been predicated by the pass rush of their front seven in recent years which has masked their inability to cover. But as a whole San Francisco is beginning to resemble the team that had not fielded a winning record for the nine years prior to Harbaugh’s arrival there which was due in part to mismanagement within the front office.
Trent Baalke
Baalke won out with his battle with Harbaugh as he (Baalke) had the backing of the Niners front office and more importantly team owner Jed York. York is the nephew of former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. DeBartolo Jr. was known to push a little bit too much in his day, but he left head coach Bill Walsh alone just enough to win three Super Bowl Titles. Now York has allowed Baalke to turn Harbaugh into a martyr and in the process place added pressure on Tomsula heading into next season. Being that Harbaugh to got the 49ers at least to the NFC Championship Game in his first three seasons in San Francisco, nothing less than an actual Super Bowl Championship in the Bay Area will prevent people from second guessing everything that Tomsula does. Success tends to bring out egos and unfortunately for the 49ers, the egos of Harbaugh and Baalke took center stage and destroyed something that was beautiful. Instead of building up, the bricks of the foundation are coming apart; and the scary thing about things are that they are wired to very soon self destruct altogether for the Niners.
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