How Jim Harbaugh's 49ers plummeted from the cusp of Super Bowl glory to rock bottom

The San Francisco 49ers were so bad for nearly a decade throughout the 2000s. Then, CEO Jed York and GM Trent Baalke miraculously landed the hottest coaching commodity out there: Jim Harbaugh.

The Niners beat out Stanford, where he’d just led the Cardinal to its first-ever BCS Bowl win, Michigan, his alma mater where he starred at quarterback in the ‘80s, and the Miami Dolphins, who … still had a head coach in place.

Yet Harbaugh took that squad that had long been an NFL bottomfeeder and overnight turned them into Goliath.

For three seasons they soared majestically atop the football universe, but came up just short of securing the franchise’s sixth Lombardi Trophy each time.

Despite injecting a ton of winning into an organization that had long been starving for mere competence, management decided to fix what was the furthest thing from broken — and because of their pride and ego, they sent the entire operation into an uncontrollable tailspin.

Written and produced by Alex Rubenstein
Directed and edited by Ryan Simmons
Motion graphics by Michael Das

#SBNation #49ers #JimHarbaugh

[gregster]

Funny how a coach is supposedly "losing the locker room", yet almost immediately after you fire said coach, half the team retires.

[anthonyparkernearlifeexp]

Ironically, as bad as this video makes Trent Baalke look, he's actually even worse. What they fail to mention is that nearly all the great talent on the Harbaugh teams was brought in by Baalke's predecessor, Scott Macloughan. With the exception of Kaepernick and Aldon Smith, all of the stars were drafted by Macloughan. Balke's first draft as GM was a mere week after Macloughan resigned, so it's fair to assume that the draft board was all but laid out already. Once Baalke was on his own, his drafts were abysmal.

[Blackmenace]

That blown call on the Bowman fumble recovery is the literal definition of adding insult to injury.

[JustAwesomee]

I still think Harbaugh is the best NFL coach I’ve ever seen. They way he turned the 49ers from abysmal to superbowl contenders in just 1 year is straight up incredible

[BOS_C.O.]

The first thing I thought of when I saw this was Urinatingtree going over the 49ers 2015 off-season

[jmitchtheman]

My favorite quote for the 49ers 2015 offseason is “you could make a decent expansion team from the players and staff members they lost”.

[yubinihernandez]

Wish Gore, Willis, and Staley got the ring they deserved.

[sheltered_k]

Watching this as Jim Harbaugh was named coach of the LA Chargers.

[heyheyme]

I'm a 49ers fan!!..The downfall of the 49ers is Jed York and Trent Baalke

[histochronos]

In some alternate universe, Harbaugh led the 9ers to a 3peat.

[Goyanks]

This defense was so nasty. In 2012, they had 4 all pro linebackers!

[guodade]

As further suggestions I second:

— early 2000s Sacramento Kings (most needed)
— 2000s- 2010s Phoenix Suns
— post-Lombardi Packers (unless this is too ancient)
— 1970s Baltimore Colts (actually two collapses, and would be very interesting because of the stadium controversy and ultimate relocation to Indianapolis)
— 1990s Redskins
— late 1990s Jaguars
— 1960s Yankees (unless this is too ancient)
— Detroit Tigers (either 1980s or 2010s)
— New York Islanders (1980s and 1990s)
— New Jersey Devils (2000s to 2010s)
— Montreal Canadiens after 1994 NHL lockout

[thomasg]

*Jim Harbaugh makes your team competitive.


"Man, I hate how he just doesn't let up and wants nothing but to win. I'm sick of it."


HUH?


That's my impression of the players and idiot ownership.

[Hummabubba]

I knew that the 49er's had some unfortunate things go down in that time, but jesus I didn't know it was that bad.

[MotleyStu-gvtb]

Ouch. I knew this was coming, yet nothing could prepare me for it. :(

[jaredwhite]

As a 49ers fan I can honestly say that Trent Baalke & Jed York are the biggest reasons why we got as bad as we did before we finally brought in Kyle Shanahan & John Lynch

[Aj]

That Navarro Bowman injury still gets to me. That was gruesome

[VickStarkiller]

The greatest run in NFL history to never happen.

[Shadowboy]

I don't even like the 49ers and this pissed me off 😤😡🤬

[tristanfluhr]

I’m a Colts fan, but holy cow that early 2010’s 49ers team was so fun to watch... cool to see them at the top again