A fictional (yet pretty close) account of what a suicide poster would have posted in 2011

Genius dude. You nailed it

I was one of those who thought we would suck in 2011. I really didn't want us to hire Harbaugh (I preferred Billick ), and to be fair it seemed that I was going to be right in the start of the season. Our preseason was dreadful - remember that Saints game where they kept blitzing Smith? We finished 2-2, beating a horrible Oakland team, got blown out by Houston, and then our scrubs barely beat the Chargers' scrubs.

The first few real games weren't much better:

Wk 1: Played well in the first half against a mediocre Seacocks team, then we might have actually lost but for two return TDs by Ginn late in the 4th
Wk 2: Played well, but threw the game away against a dreadfully uneven Cowboys team, when Harbaugh idiotically declined a penalty for a first down when we were going to ice the game. Totally on him that one. After the game our OL came out and stated that we shouldn't yell at them because "we don't suck"
Wk 3: Played fairly terribly against a poor Cincinnati team, but ground the result out.
Wk 4: Playing badly and down 20 points in the 3rd at Philly (the "dream team" )... then finally woke up

The first game I really started thinking that something might be on with this team was the blowout of the Yuckaneers at home. Then came the wonderful victory (after starting down 10-0 and not getting a single first down until 4 minutes left in the 1st) at Detroit and the rest was history.

The point is that if we take the sepia-tinted glasses out for a moment, 2011 started terribly and was mostly confirming the doomsayers' predictions (including mine). On the third quarter of the 4th regular season game we were looking to be 2-2, with one game thrown away to the Cowboys and one blowout loss to the Eagles. Our victories were both unconvincing and somewhat flukey. But the chips fell our way and then confidence, that wonderful elixir, galvanized the team.

Week 4. That's October. It's mid-July now. Who knows what will happen come this October.

Posters after the 2015 season:

Man I miss Scot McCloughan. This Trent Baalke experiment is an absolute failure

Originally posted by paulk205:
I was one of those who thought we would suck in 2011. I really didn't want us to hire Harbaugh (I preferred Billick ), and to be fair it seemed that I was going to be right in the start of the season. Our preseason was dreadful - remember that Saints game where they kept blitzing Smith? We finished 2-2, beating a horrible Oakland team, got blown out by Houston, and then our scrubs barely beat the Chargers' scrubs.

The first few real games weren't much better:

Wk 1: Played well in the first half against a mediocre Seacocks team, then we might have actually lost but for two return TDs by Ginn late in the 4th
Wk 2: Played well, but threw the game away against a dreadfully uneven Cowboys team, when Harbaugh idiotically declined a penalty for a first down when we were going to ice the game. Totally on him that one. After the game our OL came out and stated that we shouldn't yell at them because "we don't suck"
Wk 3: Played fairly terribly against a poor Cincinnati team, but ground the result out.
Wk 4: Playing badly and down 20 points in the 3rd at Philly (the "dream team" )... then finally woke up

The first game I really started thinking that something might be on with this team was the blowout of the Yuckaneers at home. Then came the wonderful victory (after starting down 10-0 and not getting a single first down until 4 minutes left in the 1st) at Detroit and the rest was history.

The point is that if we take the sepia-tinted glasses out for a moment, 2011 started terribly and was mostly confirming the doomsayers' predictions (including mine). On the third quarter of the 4th regular season game we were looking to be 2-2, with one game thrown away to the Cowboys and one blowout loss to the Eagles. Our victories were both unconvincing and somewhat flukey. But the chips fell our way and then confidence, that wonderful elixir, galvanized the team.

Week 4. That's October. It's mid-July now. Who knows what will happen come this October.

How fun! And this too was spot on...you'd think fans by now, even the SP's, would at least learn from a VERY recent history lesson. Hang on...hold on...don't jump in July. Review the roster critically. Educate yourself on the coaches. Review the offensive projections. Review the schedule.

And start to form realistic expectations (not homer or SP expectations). But overall, this exercise is very valid from JUST 4 years ago.

lol what? If I remember correctly the majority of people were incredibly excited when we hired Harbaugh.

Originally posted by pwillis52beasty:
lol what? If I remember correctly the majority of people were incredibly excited when we hired Harbaugh.

Yes, most were. In January. But after the lockout, and keeping Smith after all, and a very unsexy FA (Rodgers? Remember the horror?), and a draft where we were universally panned by the draftniks for "reaching" for Aldon, the enthusiasm had cooled. By Week 4 people, including myself, were moaning as pathetically as ever. Sure, most were cool with Harbaugh (that Cowboy game brain fart notwithstanding), and were confident he would deliver. In 2012. In 2011 the most the non-homer crowd hoped for was a return to respectability, perhaps a nice 8-8, perhaps a late flukey run at a WC. But starting 9-1, going 13-3 and coming within 2 further brain farts of the SB? Who'd have thunk it while we were down 20 in Philly that October?

Originally posted by paulk205:

Originally posted by pwillis52beasty:
lol what? If I remember correctly the majority of people were incredibly excited when we hired Harbaugh.

Yes, most were. In January. But after the lockout, and keeping Smith after all, and a very unsexy FA (Rodgers? Remember the horror?), and a draft where we were universally panned by the draftniks for "reaching" for Aldon, the enthusiasm had cooled. By Week 4 people, including myself, were moaning as pathetically as ever. Sure, most were cool with Harbaugh (that Cowboy game brain fart notwithstanding), and were confident he would deliver. In 2012. In 2011 the most the non-homer crowd hoped for was a return to respectability, perhaps a nice 8-8, perhaps a late flukey run at a WC. But starting 9-1, going 13-3 and coming within 2 further brain farts of the SB? Who'd have thunk it while we were down 20 in Philly that October?

I don't know about "excited" but more "relieved" b/c Miami was pushing hard for Harbaugh and if we didn't get him, then what? And the OP didn't even cover the coaching staff concerns...Fangio had one good set but only when he had top talent (Dome Patrol) and seemed to progressively always get worse with time, many still didn't like Solari, Rathman was still new, we knew that Roman was only a High School coach, who was Geep, etc. Lots of questions about the rest of the position coaches as well. Tomsula was the only proven veteran coach, etc. Most were just so happy to move on from two dead-beat defensive coaches for an alleged "QB guru." Then the non-off season began and we had no QB. So Harbaugh was forced to try and keep Alex Smith which, fortunately, was "arrow up" the 2nd half of the previous season and in the new scheme, a smart game manager was all we needed.

Then Baalke went nuts with the roster getting rid of Lawson, Clements, etc. ensuring players such as Brooks, Rogers, etc. had starting roles...in fact, he made as many moves as Seattle did in their historic off season of 2,000 moves. Baalke built the roster, the position coaches coached them up, Alex held "Camp Alex" and coached up the offense to everyone all off season, the defense took off, Gore was featured and the NFL was hit with an offense they've never seen before (all the motions/shifts) and going against the grain of the NFL which had focused more on stopping the pass vs. the run. Harbaugh provided energy, a direction and a theme "Who's got it better than us!?" And in 2011, many of our now-retired players were hitting their peaks at that time as well. It was just a formula of everything coming together at the right time...then Kyle Williams happened and HaRoman had no answers offensively against a good defense in the Giants.

Originally posted by pwillis52beasty:

lol what? If I remember correctly the majority of people were incredibly excited when we hired Harbaugh.

The OPs post could be rebutted by Harbaugh.

I'd say most all fans were more then excited to just get rid of singleterry.

A lot of fans some pundits were also thrilled with the hiring of Harbaugh.

Nobody could have reasonably predicted that in 2011 we would be the number 2 seed and be an idiot returnee fumble/muff away from the super bowl in the NFCC. Especially with the lockout and especially with alex smith.

Harbaugh magic.

Trolling.

Originally posted by pwillis52beasty:

lol what? If I remember correctly the majority of people were incredibly excited when we hired Harbaugh.

Yes, this is true, BUT I think the point of the post is that expectations were still generally low heading into the 2011 season, especially after the Cowboys loss. Few thought Harbs would turn Alex & the team around so quickly.

I wouldn't say that's fictional. A lot of people were saying exactly all of that. A lot of were excited about Harbaugh but even more thought we had no chance at him since York went with Baalke instead of Lombardi.

Originally posted by btthepunk:
I wouldn't say that's fictional. A lot of people were saying exactly all of that. A lot of were excited about Harbaugh but even more thought we had no chance at him since York went with Baalke instead of Lombardi.

No. No "a lot of people" weren't saying that..

This entire thread is ridiculous. Bowman, who everyone knew had plenty of potential and was a first rounder on the Cowboys board. That was commonly known, and he'd be starting next to Patrick Willis who had nearly identical measurables.

After the initial shock, a majority of people warmed up to the Aldon pick. His highlights of the game where he got sacks with the broken foot, a long with the Warren Sapp video, pretty much hyped everyone up.

"We also lost our two best pass rushers in Manny Lawson and Travis Laboy."



Nobody was decrying the loss of Manny Lawson or Travis Laboy. Nobody.

Wragge was crap and we knew it. Baas was alright, but everyone was stoked on Boone and we'd just spent a first rounder on Iupati. Goodwin had a Super Bowl ring and was still rated fairly well, at least serviceable.

"Finally, We let Clements and Mays walk and we replace them with other teams garbage. Rodgers sucked in WSH and Whitner was way over drafted in Buffalo"

What? Rodgers didn't sick in WSH. He couldn't catch. He still played consistently in coverage. The desperate WSH were just fickle desperate for every possible turnover. And Taylor Mays.... , yeah, even the suicide posters weren't attached to Mr. Cannonball.

"This Trent Baalke experiment is an absolute failure and yet Jed York is so cheap that he went with our interim guy when we could have guys like Michael Lombardi who have much more experience who would have brought in a much more experienced coach that Jim Harbaugh"

The Lombardi enthusiasm was really tempered when his actual FA and draft success was brought up. The only reason people wanted him was because of his connection with Harbaugh and it was rumored that was a caveat of Harbaugh's.... which is what helped bring up the Browns rumors.

Originally posted by pwillis52beasty:
lol what? If I remember correctly the majority of people were incredibly excited when we hired Harbaugh.

They were. Hardly, if anyone, was upset about losing Wragge, Sopoaga (common knowledge was he sucked in 2010), Baas, Nate Davis, Lawson, Laboy, Mays, or Clements (he was overpayed )

Most of the gloom, or tempered expectations, came from the shortened offseason. Which Alex Smith saved our asses and helped out.

Total revisionist circle jerking. I am a 100% 49er fanatic. I soak up every article I can find. All 49er related commentary I loved to read. My family has to hold me back when I spot Seahawks fans in the wild, because I get pretty confrontational. I almost got in a fight with this butch chick because she showed up at the pizza parlor in her brand new Seahawks hootin' 'n' hollerin' about the Hawks until I drowned her out with booes, and the management separated us to opposite sides of the store.

You guys wanna hype up players like players like Patton and DeAndrew White and Dial, that's cool. Keep on keepin' on. But when I start reading stuff like this, I just have to close the tab and find another community. Really getting ridiculous. I agree the offseason "damage" to our team has been overrated, but this offseason's NT has been damn near intolerable.

Yes, there were a lot of people on here who thought every move Harbaalke made that offseason was terrible. People were saying Harbaugh should've been fired for wanting to bring Alex back. I remember vividly people saying how losing Manny Lawson was huge because of his coverage of TE's and that he supplied a lot of pressure on the QB's. People were pissed because we missed out on Jonathan Joseph and whoever else the top CB's were that year and we settled on Rogers. A lot of people were worried about Bowman replacing Spikes. Yes it's pretty widely known that the Cowboys had him ranked as a first round pick but that is irrelevant. He wasn't a first round pick.

Originally posted by BodhiPaddlesOut:
No. No "a lot of people" weren't saying that..

This entire thread is ridiculous. Bowman, who everyone knew had plenty of potential and was a first rounder on the Cowboys board. That was commonly known, and he'd be starting next to Patrick Willis who had nearly identical measurables.

After the initial shock, a majority of people warmed up to the Aldon pick. His highlights of the game where he got sacks with the broken foot, a long with the Warren Sapp video, pretty much hyped everyone up.

"We also lost our two best pass rushers in Manny Lawson and Travis Laboy."



Nobody was decrying the loss of Manny Lawson or Travis Laboy. Nobody.

Wragge was crap and we knew it. Baas was alright, but everyone was stoked on Boone and we'd just spent a first rounder on Iupati. Goodwin had a Super Bowl ring and was still rated fairly well, at least serviceable.

"Finally, We let Clements and Mays walk and we replace them with other teams garbage. Rodgers sucked in WSH and Whitner was way over drafted in Buffalo"

What? Rodgers didn't sick in WSH. He couldn't catch. He still played consistently in coverage. The desperate WSH were just fickle desperate for every possible turnover. And Taylor Mays.... , yeah, even the suicide posters weren't attached to Mr. Cannonball.

"This Trent Baalke experiment is an absolute failure and yet Jed York is so cheap that he went with our interim guy when we could have guys like Michael Lombardi who have much more experience who would have brought in a much more experienced coach that Jim Harbaugh"

The Lombardi enthusiasm was really tempered when his actual FA and draft success was brought up. The only reason people wanted him was because of his connection with Harbaugh and it was rumored that was a caveat of Harbaugh's.... which is what helped bring up the Browns rumors.


They were. Hardly, if anyone, was upset about losing Wragge, Sopoaga (common knowledge was he sucked in 2010), Baas, Nate Davis, Lawson, Laboy, Mays, or Clements (he was overpayed )

Most of the gloom, or tempered expectations, came from the shortened offseason. Which Alex Smith saved our asses and helped out.

Total revisionist circle jerking. I am a 100% 49er fanatic. I soak up every article I can find. All 49er related commentary I loved to read. My family has to hold me back when I spot Seahawks fans in the wild, because I get pretty confrontational. I almost got in a fight with this butch chick because she showed up at the pizza parlor in her brand new Seahawks hootin' 'n' hollerin' about the Hawks until I drowned her out with booes, and the management separated us to opposite sides of the store.

You guys wanna hype up players like players like Patton and DeAndrew White and Dial, that's cool. Keep on keepin' on. But when I start reading stuff like this, I just have to close the tab and find another community. Really getting ridiculous. I agree the offseason "damage" to our team has been overrated, but this offseason's NT has been damn near intolerable.

lol well done. There were probably a few who felt this way at the time.

For me, I think the only move I was skeptical about was letting Franklin go. He was playing NT at a near pro-bowl level. Didn't play nearly as well after he left. Good move to let him walk.

People hated re-signing RayMac to a $20 mil deal, saying he was unproven as a starter. That ended up being a great deal for us until he screwed it up with all his off-field issues.

Was a huge fan of Spikes, but had a pretty good feeling about Bowman taking over. He started in place of Willis the last game in 2010, against AZ. He was flying around the field. I think the only question was how he would fit next to Willis. People assumed Bowman would be the one to take on most of the blocks to free up Willis. It ended up being the other way around.

I couldn't wait to get rid of Clements and Lawson . 2 notorious under-achievers. Baas had a good year for us, but got massively overpaid. Wanted no part of his contract.

Also remember people freaking out the first few days of FA. It wasn't so much the players we lost, but the initial inactivity to replace those guys. People wanted us to be big players in FA, mainly to go after Asomugha (LOL). Baalke was bargain hunting, and it worked big time. Was able to reel in Whitner, Rogers, Goodwin, and others.