Jim Harbaugh Thread - HC Chargers

Honestly, this was a perfect storm for the Seahawks. The 49ers were coming off their biggest high of the season by beating the Patriots in Foxborough. If you noticed the past 4 weeks, the #1 ranked teams all lost the next week. The Texans were ranked #1 week 13, and then week 14 the Patriots blew them out. Then the Patriots were ranked #1 after that, and the 49ers beat them. Now we were ranked #1 and the Seahawks beat us. It is a trend that keeps happening. The seahawks were playing at home where they never lose. Petey REALLY wanted a win against Harbaugh. The Seahawks wanted to clinch their spot in the playoffs after we already clinched ours. The intensity and momentum was all in the Hawks favor this week. Thank God we beat the Patriots because we would be fighting for a wildcard spot rather than a division title or #2 seed.

Harbaugh's ego is no bigger than that of any other NFL coach, the team has plenty of holes, and isn't as good as it's cracked up to be. The 49ers do not regularly get outcoached, it happens more often than we should like, but it's not all of the time. He's not alone in game planning and his coordinators get a lot of free reign in the game plans they collectively put together. To me it appears sometimes as if they don't correctly analyze the game film of their opponents (Vikings, Rams, Giants, Seahawks) and so don't put together effective gameplans against these teams. I'm sure that the Seahawks ability to do what they did last night was evident in their previous games, so the coaching staff should have known what their opponents were capable of. It appeared that the D had no clue how fast, shifty, and escapable Wilson was, whether that is the case or not I don't know, it just looked like they were unprepared for him. The Niners were getting pushed around all over the place, it was sickening to watch. As much praise as the FO got for the 2011 draft, and rightly so, the 49ers better start getting players who can compete with the more athletic players in this league. That starts with this coming years draft. The 49ers looked old last night, and they have looked old in their previous losses.

Originally posted by SanFranFanfrmVa:

I love Harbaugh as a coach but he makes bad calls when it comes to his players. Manningham just coming back from injury shouldn't have been in a game that was over at halftime. He did the same thing last season to Josh Morgan when we blew the Buccaneers out. This isn't the BCS and we don't need style points. When the game is over one way or the other you take most of your starters out and let younger players play. Gore getting carries down 35 to 6 is just plain stupid.

Manningham was hurt early in the third quarter. No coach is giving up in the third quarter of a football game you're down 21-3. Furthermore, they were starting to gain momentum and Manningham got hurt and fumbled unfortunately. That's when it was over because Seattle capitalized on every mistake by scoring TDs. Our offense can't score red zone TDs to save their life because of all the garbage gimmick plays that work best between the twenties.

TheRatman13, It was 28 to 6 and the game was over. The 49ers weren't coming back from 22 down at halftime in Seattle. Sometimes you have to face the fact you've lost and keep players healthy for another battle.

Carrol FINALLY beat him and all this overreaction. Harbaugh brought this team back into the limelight and will continue to show the whole football world how great this 49ERS team is when they win the superbowl.

Originally posted by NinerTeam:
Carrol FINALLY beat him and all this overreaction. Harbaugh brought this team back into the limelight and will continue to show the whole football world how great this 49ERS team is when they win the superbowl.

nice optimism but we have to put four quarters of ball together before we talk super bowl. if we do not on sunday, we are looking at a wild card first round elimination game

Needs to fire roman

Originally posted by 49er-from-Yavin-IV:
Harbaugh's ego is no bigger than that of any other NFL coach, the team has plenty of holes, and isn't as good as it's cracked up to be. The 49ers do not regularly get outcoached, it happens more often than we should like, but it's not all of the time. He's not alone in game planning and his coordinators get a lot of free reign in the game plans they collectively put together. To me it appears sometimes as if they don't correctly analyze the game film of their opponents (Vikings, Rams, Giants, Seahawks) and so don't put together effective gameplans against these teams. I'm sure that the Seahawks ability to do what they did last night was evident in their previous games, so the coaching staff should have known what their opponents were capable of. It appeared that the D had no clue how fast, shifty, and escapable Wilson was, whether that is the case or not I don't know, it just looked like they were unprepared for him. The Niners were getting pushed around all over the place, it was sickening to watch. As much praise as the FO got for the 2011 draft, and rightly so, the 49ers better start getting players who can compete with the more athletic players in this league. That starts with this coming years draft. The 49ers looked old last night, and they have looked old in their previous losses.

We did look old, on defense there really is no line depth, and we were still tired from last week. Harbaugh also needs to play his rookies. No dam reason not to. Then we wont be so old out there. To find out no one can catch AJ Jenkins yesterday would have been nice to see! LeMichael James is making an impact and is as good as Hunter. Rookies arent any liability at all. Play these guys!...Harbaugh!

Originally posted by SanFranFanfrmVa:

TheRatman13, It was 28 to 6 and the game was over. The 49ers weren't coming back from 22 down at halftime in Seattle. Sometimes you have to face the fact you've lost and keep players healthy for another battle.

Sorry misquoted the score. Regardless, my point still stands. No coach is ever quitting early in the third quarter. If that were the case, the patriots would have conceded last week. It sucks what happened to Manningham, but Harbaugh would have lost all the team's respect if he pulled the chord in the third.

Originally posted by TheRatMan13:

Originally posted by SanFranFanfrmVa:
TheRatman13, It was 28 to 6 and the game was over. The 49ers weren't coming back from 22 down at halftime in Seattle. Sometimes you have to face the fact you've lost and keep players healthy for another battle.

Sorry misquoted the score. Regardless, my point still stands. No coach is ever quitting early in the third quarter. If that were the case, the patriots would have conceded last week. It sucks what happened to Manningham, but Harbaugh would have lost all the team's respect if he pulled the chord in the third.

Exactly!

Talk about over-reaction ! Fans need to take a deep breath and relax. These kinds of things happen. There are lessons to be learned and if the team learns something from this loss, and it will, it might just be helpful for a playoff run.

Sorry . . . but this talk about pulling players at half-time and Harbaugh's ego being the problem is just ridiculous. BTW I don't understand how letting players play has anything to do with ego. Gametime experience is how players learn. Kaepernick, in particular, needs as much game experience as he can get, in all situations. The coaches need practice in getting the plays called to the huddle in time (that was atrocious). The team needs all this practice in order for the offense to play in rythmn.

The coaches need to see what they have on defense when key players are missing. That needs to be fixed pronto! IMO it was obvious that the defense was the problem in this game. They got schooled by a rookie QB. If it wasn't for the fact that it was happening to the team we support, it was actually quite funny how they kept flopping around back there trying to contain their QB and cover their receivers. It was an important lesson and a problem that the team must solve. Hope that the coaches do something about it.

Originally posted by SanFranFanfrmVa:
TheRatman13, It was 28 to 6 and the game was over. The 49ers weren't coming back from 22 down at halftime in Seattle. Sometimes you have to face the fact you've lost and keep players healthy for another battle.

imagine where this team would be now if we quit in the 3rd quarter against the Eagles last year.

Originally posted by ApatheticIAm:
Honestly, this was a perfect storm for the Seahawks. The 49ers were coming off their biggest high of the season by beating the Patriots in Foxborough. If you noticed the past 4 weeks, the #1 ranked teams all lost the next week. The Texans were ranked #1 week 13, and then week 14 the Patriots blew them out. Then the Patriots were ranked #1 after that, and the 49ers beat them. Now we were ranked #1 and the Seahawks beat us. It is a trend that keeps happening. The seahawks were playing at home where they never lose. Petey REALLY wanted a win against Harbaugh. The Seahawks wanted to clinch their spot in the playoffs after we already clinched ours. The intensity and momentum was all in the Hawks favor this week. Thank God we beat the Patriots because we would be fighting for a wildcard spot rather than a division title or #2 seed.

niners were playing for #2 seed and 1st rd buy and got beat---the excuse that they had clinched playoff and seattle hadnt doesnt hold water

JH is still learning and we'll lose other games due to coaching errors.

We LOST the battle of the trenches on both sides of the ball. On that first TD by Marshawn, their blocking was terrific. They hit hard and very quick.

I think we really need to get a new Red Zone offensive scheme, EPIC failure! We should have come away with 3-4 scores instead of ZERO!

fickle  
fick·le [fik-uh l] Show IPA
adjective 1. likely to change, especially due to caprice, irresolution, or instability; casually changeable: fickle weather.

2. not constant or loyal in affections: a fickle lover.

Harbaugh does have a huge ego. All successful coaches have to have a fair amount of ego in order to have the drive that is needed to win. However, in Harbaugh's case, he got a triple measure of ego. His ego shows up in just about every thing he does. From his constant baiting of officials on the sidelines, to his just plain rude treatment of questions by the media, to his stubborn refusal to move away from power running in the red zone despite continued lack of success, to a half dozen other things, Harbaugh's ego clearly stands in the way of the needed adjustments to maximize the talent on this team. Combine all that with his Type A personality and his act will wear very thin very quickly with both media and players.

I hate to keep going back to Bill Walsh all the time but he is still the measuring rod for local media. Walsh was always pleasant and accommodating with media. Even when he didn't want to reveal something, he would politely answer the question in a way that all could understand. Harbaugh, by comparison, blatantly moves into another area completely, thereby making whatever answer he gives of no value to the press that is getting paid to try to get something out of him that makes sense to readers. Harbaugh has gotten a pass from everyone so far because he has turned the team around and gotten some wins. The truth is, most of the talent on this team came before Harbaugh. All he has done is put the pieces together, something Singletary, one of the most unprepared, unqualified HCs ever to hold the position, could not do.

There are other problems:

Couple of specifics: Harbaugh continues to rely on the same schemes rather than recognizing the need for change. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the red zone last night. While Seattle was spreading the field, often with an empty backfield and 5 receivers, which resulted in ridiculously easy TDs throws for Wilson, the 49ers could not get anything done with their heavy sets. This has gone on all season long but still JH refuses to recognize what should have been obvious.

Harbaugh refuses to recognize the short-comings of a very inexperienced, though physically talented, QB. I love Kaepernick. He comes from a town just a few miles from my house. I love his back story. However, his lack of experience was never more clearly demonstrated than last night. So while that lack of experience by itself did not loose the game, his confusion and lack of confidence clearly had an impact on the way the offense was playing. Harbaugh's stubborn refusal to put Smith into a game in which Kaepernick was clearly struggling is another example of ego overcoming judgement.

Alex Smith was admired and appreciated by his teammates, not only for what he overcame, but for his cool and success in calling plays and making adjustments at the LOS. He was, as admitted by all, a master game manager. Of course the players will publicly support whoever the coach puts in the position, they also have their own feelings which they keep inside. Those feelings and reservations do affect their confidence and play on the field. Going into a big game like last night, and seeing the problems caused by inexperience so early in the game, it had to have an impact on the play of the offense. Never before have we seen individual players on the OL getting beat so consistently as last night. There is nothing else other than a lack of confidence to account for the tentative and inconsistent play of the OL.

Of course there are other flaws on this team. The secondary was exposed due to the lack of pass rush (Justin Smith's loss was crushing) but that happens to the best of secondaries. Also the lack of a speed guy to keep the Seattle safeties out of the box continues to be a problem. The absence of the #1 draft pick, a guy with the kind of speed sorely needed by this team right now, is another suggestion that Harbaugh's ego is in the way. Why he doesn't get Jenkins into the game is a baffling question. Did Baalke just completely screw up that pick? We likely won't know the answer to that until next season. For now, Harbaugh's demonstrated ego masks the question.

Will last night have any positive impact on Harbaugh to modify his approach? From what I have seen, the answer is no. We will continue to see more of the same stuff. Getting out coached by more flexible, more NFL-experienced HCs is the likely prospect for the playoffs based on what this season has brought us to this point.