It was goodbye and good riddance on Sunday as, immediately after the final gun sounded in the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 home win over the Arizona Cardinals, the team announced that they had reached an agreement with head coach Jim Harbaugh to “part ways.” It is the end of an incredibly successful four year run that included three berths in the NFC Championship Game and a Super Bowl appearance.
The injury ravaged 49ers still nearly made the playoffs this year but the combination of those injuries and the regression of QB Colin Kaepernick proved to be too much to overcome. So too did the clashes of Harbaugh and the front office. Now the 49ers move on into a high stakes drama of an offseason of questions and doubts.
Enhanced Pressure for 49ers
Be careful of what you wish for. That would be the advice to pass along to 49ers chairman Jed York and general manager Trent Baalke. After some nasty and bitter fights with Harbaugh through the years they are now rid of their headache. They are also rid of a coach that is the best in football. They also are about to face a fan base that is neither fooled nor happy about what has gone down. The 49er fans seem to understand far better than York and Baalke what a mistake “parting ways” with Harbaugh is. York and Baalke will face a fan base that is paying beyond top dollar to fill brand new state of the art Levis Stadium and will be in no mood for second class football. Or a second class, “yes man” coach.
Kaepernick Needs Fixing
San Francisco finished 20th in the NFL for total offense and 30th for passing offense. QB Colin Kaepernick has regressed in the past two seasons as after posting a 98.3 QB rating upon taking over as starter in 2012 when the 49ers made the Super Bowl, he went down to 91.6 last year and then continued to slide with an 86.4 this year. His yards per attempt has fallen from a high of 8.3 in 2012 to 7.0 this season. Kaepernick’s 19-10 TD-INT ratio this season was the worst of his career.
Part of the problem facing the next coach is the reality that NFL defenses figured out Kaepernick long ago. Kaepernick was a unique QB in his rookie season and defenses struggled to adjust. That is no longer the case and now the 49ers QB will need to adjust with proper tutelage.
Top Coaching Candidates
Jim Tomsula is the 49ers defensive line coach and was already tabbed as the 49ers unofficial coach in waiting. Tomsula is a great motivator but is not offensively oriented, which is where the 49ers fell short this year.
With all of Kaepernick’s problems and offensive minded coach would be a likely direction to go. Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase will almost certainly get an audience with York and Baalke. He has worked with the two extremes of Tim Tebow and Peyton Manning as QB’s in Denver. Gase, however, stated last year that he wasn’t ready to be a NFL head coach yet. Is now the time?
Dan Quinn is the successful defensive coordinator of the hated arch rival Seattle Seahawks. He is tough and hard-nosed and would no doubt have inside information on what makes the Seahawks so successful. But he would need to hand the offense over to a strong coordinator that can fix Kaepernick.
On the other side of the ball from the rival Seahawks is offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. Bevell’s outstanding work with Seattle QB Russell Wilson would seem to be a perfect fit in San Francisco with Kaepernick. But is he ready?
Josh McDaniels has been mentioned as well. McDaniels is the New England Patriots offensive coordinator and had a brief and failed previous stint as Denver’s head coach. McDaniels would figure to be a strong candidate to fix Kaepernick but he turned a lot of people off with his childish antics in Denver.
Big Shoes to Fill
As we mentioned here last week the 49ers will regret letting Harbaugh go. The next coach will have a huge shadow cast over him and will likely pale in comparison. Harbaugh’s strong presence and natural leadership abilities will be impossible to replace. The next man will pale in comparison and comparisons will no doubt be made early and often. It likely won’t be long before there is a fan rebellion in San Francisco.
