I remember where I was when Jim Harbaugh was hired. I was at a local frozen yogurt place, sitting on my ass in front of my laptop using the free wi-fi because I was too cheap (and poor) to get my own. Not only that, but I was hating work and refusing to do it, acting like a spoiled child.
Anyway, the predictions weren't great. At most, the 49ers were expected to win 8 games and Harbaugh's rah-rah style wouldn't last very long. Then boom, boom, boom. Three straight NFC championship games, including an appearance in the Super Bowl that came down to the final five yards and four downs.
All of a sudden Jim Harbaugh was being compared to the best coaches in the NFL, and even to the best of all time. He was being compared to Bill Belichick, the man with 3 rings and who came damn near close to two more, and who hadn't had a .500 or worse season in God knows how long.
So when the rumblings came about that the front office had made overtures to trade Harbaugh to the Cleveland Browns, it sent shockwaves throughout the Niner Nation. What? The guy just came off his 3rd straight NFC championship and was a touchdown away from going back to the Super Bowl! The man had a combined record of 36-11-1 his first three seasons in the NFL! How could they even consider such a thing?
But the fans have been blinded. No, I'm not going where most have gone. I'm not going to psychoanalyze Harbaugh or talk about his strained relationships with his bosses at all his stops, from the University of San Diego to Stanford to San Francisco/Santa Clara. I'm strictly talking football.
With that said, the real reason for the 49ers success has been Mr. Vic Fangio. Yes, Vic Fangio. The one who, despite wanting to be a head coach, shies from the spotlight, unlike Harbaugh, who wants his own version of Barnum & Bailey to revolve around him. Fangio, the mastermind behind 4 straight top 5 defenses, which was especially impressive this season considering he was without Navorro Bowman, Patrick Willis and Aldon Smith, 3 of the top 10 linebackers in football, for much of the season (and in Bowman's case, all of it). The secondary was pretty much brand new, and the D-line, outside of Justin Smith, struggled to generate a ton of pass rush, not to mention Glenn Dorsey, last year's solid nose tackle, like Bowman was out the whole season.
People act like the 49ers were the Jacksonville Jaguars or even the Oakland Raiders when Harbaugh rode into town on his white horse, when the reality is they already had a respected defense. Going into 2010 there were playoff expectations, except it turned out Mike Singletary, while entertaining, was a horrible head coach.
The 49ers already had a top 10 defense when Harbaugh arrived and just needed some offensive competency, which they seemed to have for the first three seasons. But much of the credit for the first season and a half has to go to Alex Smith, who took an offense that had basically one legit deep threat in Vernon Davis, a talented, if young, offensive line, and a great running back in Frank Gore and made it good enough to go 19-5, of course riding on the back of Fangio's stellar defenses.
Then came the whole "hot hand" garbage. If that "hot hand" issue sounds familiar to Michigan and Tom Brady followers, it should, as Brady was caught in a similar situation his last year at Michigan. Although he had proven himself his junior year with 10 wins, they recruited a Michigan state high school hero in Drew Henson who had "limitless potential". So Lloyd Carr did the most idiotic thing any head coach could do: He started Brady, who would generally do well, then play Henson in the 2nd quarter and then decide at halftime who would start the 2nd half. So much for continuity.
After that experiment failed, mainly because Henson wasn't quite ready to play significant minutes, Carr wised up and went with Brady the rest of the season, which resulted in a huge bowl win over Alabama.
Alex Smith was playing his best football, coming off a game against Arizona, who had I believe the top passing defense in the NFL at the time, in which he was 18 of 19 for 232 yards (a 12.21 yard-per-attempt average), and 3 touchdowns. He took care of the ball and generally made good decisions while being accurate, which was perfect for this team that relied on a great defense.
Yet Harbaugh, due to his incredible ego, was just waiting for the chance to put his new toy Colin Kaepernick in, and, well, it looked like the right move. Despite stinkers against the St. Louis Rams and Seattle (which would become a common occurrence), he showed a rifle arm and gazelle speed, and took advantage of coordinators who really had no way to prepare for him, and it almost led to a Super Bowl victory. Kaepernick, Cam Newton, and Robert Griffin III were considered the new breed of quarterbacks who could not only beat teams with their arms but with their legs as well, and the read-option was supposed to revolutionize the NFL.
Two years later, it's safe to say those coordinators have caught up, and the three revolutionary quarterbacks have plateaued at best and, in the case of Griffin, are hanging on to their NFL lives. The Niners tried to make Kaepernick the center of the offense the last two seasons, and that has mostly failed. While Kaepernick has had his moments, the fact is when it came time to make the plays in key moments, or even routine plays like checkdowns to the freaking running back, he has mostly fallen short. The issues he had in 2012 are still there: ball-handling, pocket awareness and reading defenses, and even his accuracy has fallen off.
And that brings us back to Harbaugh. It seems as if he went all in on Kaepernick, not only basically kicking Smith to the curb, but also by bringing in mediocre backup quarterbacks. Colt McCoy and Blaine Gabbert were the best he could do? Really? And this constant praising of Kaepernick, calling him "great with a capital G" before he stunk it up against the Seahawks and Raiders.
Not to mention hanging on to Greg Roman, whose act had worn thin going into this season. Everyone and their mother knew Roman was a liability, yet Harbaugh not only kept him, similar to Kaepernick, he gave him high praise.
There were only 3 things Harbaugh had to do not only for the Niners to possibly win a Super Bowl but also possibly keep him around: 1) get along with York and/or Baalke, 2) keep Alex Smith as starter, and 3) replace Greg Roman. If he would have done even two of those things, especially No. 1, maybe the Niners are in the playoffs and he's got an extension.
But this isn't just about bashing Harbaugh. It's about acknowledging Fangio's greatness. Even in the midst of this madness, Fangio has remained steady. As mentioned, his defense this year continued to be among the NFL's elite despite missing so many key players to injury or suspension; aside from the aforementioned Bowman, Willis and Aldon Smith, Brock also missed a ton of time and was never 100% when he got back, and even Chris Cook, who was a disappointment in Minnesota, showed flashes of good play until he went down with injury. Yet despite all that, the Niners seemed to just plug guys in, like Chris Borland, Aaron Lynch, Dan Skuta and Dontae Johnson and remain very good on defense.
It says something that Fangio never made a peep all these years. He certainly could have. Unlike Greg Roman, who's like Jim Harbaugh's rescue dog, Fangio's paid his dues in the NFL. He got his start as the New Orleans Saints linebackers coach in 1986 (and those linebackers were consistently among the best in the NFL with guys like Sam Mills), then became a defensive coordinator in Carolina, Indianapolis, and Houston from 1995-2005 before becoming the special assistant to the head coach in Baltimore under Brian Billick and then John Harbaugh, before John let him join Jim's staff at Stanford, possibly as a favor (same as basically gifting Anquan Boldin to the Niners for a 6th round pick).
Fangio could have added fuel to the already inferno-hot controversy, but he hasn't, which speaks volumes about his character. He's just a football guy, who punches the clock, does his job to the fullest extent, and then clocks out at the end of the day. No cute shenanigans, just handles his business and puts out great defenses on a mostly weekly basis.
Fangio's defenses have kept the 49ers in position to win all these seasons, and as long as the offense didn't stink it up, they had a chance to win. But this season, the offense did stink, and that is why the Niners are where they are now, getting ready to watch 6 others NFC teams in the playoffs.
It's easy for me to say this now, but I drank the Harbaugh Kool-Aid for 3-plus years. I thought he could do no wrong. I believed Kaepernick was the future. Yet this season the blinders came off and man, reality hurts.
But I think from the ashes of disappointment could arise a phoenix. And I don't mean Arizona, although what Bruce Arians has done with that team, going through four starting quarterbacks and still making the playoffs (which a lot of people would say can't be done), and winning 21 games in his first two seasons, is amazing.
I like Jim Tomsula a lot, but let's face it: He only has one game of NFL head coaching experience, and although he was previously a head coach, it was in NFL Europe, where even the Jaguars could probably dominate. But I'm all for Fangio as the next head coach. After this 3-ring circus that was the Jim Harbaugh era, the Niners need someone who represents stability, steadiness, and strength, and that is Fangio. People say he's a loose cannon like Harbaugh, but I'm okay with that; at least he treats people like adults and doesn't play mind games with them.
People are crying and bitching about the great Jim Harbaugh leaving town, but I feel like if Fangio gets a chance to take over, the Niners will not only get to that same level, they could even surpass it. It remains to see how the offensive side of the ball will be addressed and who the Niners get to coach that side (I think Kyle Shanahan is intriguing as the offensive coordinator, as he managed to make RGIII and Brian Hoyer look like decent NFL quarterbacks, and I don't blame him for Manziel's play because I don't think even God could make Manziel a solid NFL quarterback, plus there's the Shanahan bloodlines), and if Fangio is promoted, who replaces him as the defensive coordinator (although Tomsula, secondary coach Ed Donatell or linebackers coach Jim Leavitt could possibly fill that role) or if it's possible Fangio even could do both roles.
Either way, Fangio as head coach would be a refreshing change, and even though it's vanilla to a lot of folks, especially the Harbaugh fanboys (and fangirls), at this point vanilla sounds delicious compared to the sloppy mixture of random flavors and toppings that was the Harbaugh era.
Change is scary. I get it. But change can also be great. There's all these idiot "fans" (who probably weren't even fans until the Niners started winning from 2011-2013) who think with Harbaugh goes the Niners chances to be relevant, and they say stupid shit like "Only the faithful believe 100% in Harbaugh and Kaepernick". But I've followed sports enough to know that change is inevitable, and true fans want what's best for their teams. Maybe this is what's best. It worked for the Chicago Bulls, who despite enjoying unprecedented success under Doug Collins replaced him with a relatively unknown assistant coach in Phil Jackson who led them to 6 titles in 8 seasons. It's looking like it's working for the Warriors, who had 47 and 50 win playoff seasons under Mark Jackson before replacing him with Steve Kerr, who has them off to the best start in franchise history.
People are crucifying Jed York and Trent Baalke right now, but I hope in a couple of years, or even next year, those people with have their mouths full of crow as the Niners not only get back to the playoffs and make a deep run but win it all. Chances are they do it with a different quarterback at the helm, as Kaepernick's new deal doesn't kick in until 2016 and the Niners can cut him before April 1 of that year, but I believe they'll get back, especially if Fangio is the replacement and Baalke continues to get quality players.
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