San Francisco 49ers: Time To Have Optimisim

Northern California is a wonderful place: It has the Golden Gate Bridge, Wine Country, Lake Tahoe and the Monterey Bay. Its people are unique and they can finally call themselves world champions (Giants), after so many doubted and after so many years of heartache.

Now, 49ers fans have just received the most coveted coach in recent memory: Jim Harbaugh.  Now is the time for 49ers fans to be optimistic.  Forget about Dennis Erickson, Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary—this coach is the real thing!

With change come the inevitable naysayers. You have heard them say Harbaugh does not have enough NFL coaching experience; that the NFL is not about recruiting; that he does not have an Andrew Luck anymore; or my personal favorite: college coaches are just not successful in the NFL, look at Spurrier blah blah blah. 

Well, there is certainly one college coach that was successful and with an eerily similar background to Harbaugh. His name is Bill Walsh. Not that we should make comparisons; clearly there is only one Bill Walsh.  But it is a good sign that Harbaugh idolizes the 49ers great, is his age and has a dad and brother who were and are coaches.

49ers fans are coming off an ugly Mike era (Nolan and Singletary). Seemingly coaches that were in over their proverbial heads. For example, there were the bazaar last-second calling in of the plays that plagued the beginning of the past season.  There were the crazy time management debacles. There were the predictable, run up the middle on 3rd-and-1 plays; and the stick with Alex Smith at all costs philosophy.

But now 49ers fans have one of the most creative coaches in football. A coach who truly gets it and who everyone wanted.

Yesterday, Jim Harbaugh said some things that were starkly different than his recent 49ers predecessors:

He said that he likes to understand the talent he has on the team and design plays that utilize that talent.  Who knows how he’ll take advantage of having two of the best tight ends in the league. If the Orange Bowl is a predictor, 49ers fans are in for some fun.

He said he tends to change his philosophy based on the team he’s facing.  Meaning he may pass or run more in a game, if that is a weakness of the opposing team.  Seems simple enough yet the way he executes his philosophy always seems ingenious.

Most importantly, he said that his teams are focused on the details of the game.  Nolan and Singletary had nothing close to a team that focused on the details. The details were the Mikes' downfall, and at the NFL level paying attention to the details is imperative.  False starts, improper footing and imprecise routs can and did cost 49ers fans games.

So rejoice 49ers fans. At the very least you have made a huge improvement in coaching while still being in a conference whose playoff representative went 7-9!