A Season In Review and What The Future Holds

If we had the Chargers offense, we'd be going to the Superbowl right now.

It's easy to blame it all on Williams....but the offense had three chances in the last five minutes of regulation to do something....and didn't. Like the rest of the year, the defense carried us.

Could be a fluke if we try to become an offensive football team overnight. Baltimore made this mistake after their Super Bowl. They let some of their defensive guys go and regressed for a couple of years meanwhile their offense failed to make the strides necessary.

Point being we got some key defensive free agents. Sign them because make no mistake about it if our defense slips so do we.

Fluke

We have a lot of Free Agents to deal with and our coaching staff might be shaken up, Roman , Tomsula. Time will tell.

Originally posted by kray28:
If we had the Chargers offense, we'd be going to the Superbowl right now.

It's easy to blame it all on Williams....but the offense had three chances in the last five minutes of regulation to do something....and didn't. Like the rest of the year, the defense carried us.

If we had Philip Rivers alone we would be 10 point favorites in Indy 2 weeks from now

Absolutely, with Harbaugh and Baalke in charge, this team is a perennial playoff contender. The offense will improve, I'm sure the main focus will be on getting that up to par but damn, look how far this team went with no offseason, new coaching staff, lots of new players, and they pushed it all the way to within a few minutes of the Super Bowl. This team's success isn't predicated on any one player but a system and a team playing as a unit, some pieces might shift around but I have faith that the right personnel will be brought in to make this team successful year in and year out.

Originally posted by danimal:
If we had Philip Rivers alone we would be 10 point favorites in Indy 2 weeks from now

No, they'd be out after he threw 3 or 4 INT's today. You can blame Alex as much as you want and yes he deserves a share of the blame but this team's WR's did NOTHING today, no separation, allowed themselves to be absolutely blanketed by a questionable Giants secondary. You can't throw the ball into receivers who are blanketed by coverage, regardless of who the QB is. If Alex doesn't progress over the next season or 2, then Kaepernick has had one hell of a learning experience, sitting on the bench, learning, absorbing everything, regardless of what happens, I feel like the storm clouds have lifted and with Harbaugh, the 49ers will be okay.

We're a legit team.

Throughout the past couple of seasons, we've lost many close games and needed to somehow learn to turn the corner. We've finally experienced that this year with better coaching, and learned to finish games.

With the way our rookies and free agent signings played this season, there's no doubt in my mind that we will improve by next year with a full offseason.

#BaalkeHasAPlan

After seeing what Harbaugh did at the University of San Diego, Stanford and now the 49ers, I do not consider this year a fluke whatsoever. It just builds from here.

Anthony Davis on twitter:

"We'll be back stronger next year… All these bandwagoners should jumpoff now..and stay off."

Sums up the fluke question, IMO.

Originally posted by RekeHavoc:

Originally posted by blunt_probe:

Originally posted by NickSh49:
We're the new San Diego Chargers... and we should be happy about that.

oh hell no.

You just proved you know nothing about football. Chargers are one of the most inconsistant teams and always under perform. The niners have played the most consistent football this year and are built for playoff success.

You should realize everything is about perspective.

I'm referring to the Chargers of old... LT, Gates, Rivers, and an amazing defense. I understand they never got over the hump with Marty-ball, and Norv didn't really do much more for them.

But these 49ers, being on the west coast, playing extremely good football in all three phases with strong play from the running game and the tight end, and never getting any respect from the media for it... well, that's the San Diego Chargers of the last 10 years or so... whether you like it or not.

s**t, in 2009, the Chargers won 11 games in a row and went 13-3. Sound familar?

Anyone that is wondering if this was a fluke needs to get the f**k out now.


Arizona making it to the Superbowl, Carolina, that was a fluke dependent on the right personnel getting hot at the right time. What the 49ers have had with Harbaugh is an entire "change of culture." Winning becomes a result of proper preparation, not a lucky coincidence such as seen in the Singletary/Nolan era. This team has a philosophy and a system, there is synergy in the organization as it seems that Harbaugh, Baalke and Jed are all on the same page together, when all these factors come together, winning basically becomes inevitable. Its similar to what is seen in Pittsburgh, New England, Green Bay....etc.

Originally posted by dhp318:
Not a fluke, but will be hard to repeat given the impending free agents that will leave the team.

Why do you assume they all will leave?

Well hopefully we'll catch some luck with next year's schedule. We'll supposedly be getting a tougher schedule but look what happend for GB this year. Who do we get next year the NFC North and the AFC ?. Unfortunately SEA and PHX should both be better next year and who knows what Fisher can do with the STL.

The NFC West next year certainly does not look to be the NFL's worst division. More than likely it will be one of the strongest. So say we go 10-6 or 9-7 and AZ or SEA goes 12-4 or 11-5 and the divisions produce teams with more wins than us? We could have lost 4 more games as long as they weren't to AZ and SEA and still have won the division and made the playoffs. I don't see us having that same luxury next year.

I don't see SF having a losing season again for the foreseeable future but our division rivals do have solid coaches and they do have some talent to work with. Our path will more than likely be more difficult next year.

We need to get lucky in this year's draft and draft a legit WR. and maybe snag another off free agency. In addition to that, getting Morgan back will certainly help too. I think we need to find an upgrade over Dixon as well.That or he needs to put it together next season and upgrade himself.

It doesn't have to be a fluke...but in today's NFL, teams can rise up out of the ashes just as fast they go crashing down in flames.

That being said, Harbaugh helped a very flawed 49ers team put their best foot forward and play to their strengths. Hats off to him for that. Now he needs to build on that....and what happens in the next 7 months will be very critical in all that. Harbaugh needs to keep his defense, and build himself an offense.

I would trade Crabtree and maybe even Davis to do that if needed. Gore is still serviceable....but he's not breaking open games for us. I still think there's a role for him here, but he can't be the featured back for much longer.

Alex must be taught how to become an efficient passer....if he's going to be the QB, then he can't just be a QB who doesn't lose games for you.