San Francisco 49ers: Jim Harbaugh Has Huge Expectations to Live Up to in 2012

At his final press conference of the season on Monday, Jim Harbaugh clashed with reporters a bit when they asked him how he spent the night after his team's loss in the NFC Championship Game.

Yes, it was a minor spat and not really noteworthy, but it showed what the future may look like for the San Francisco 49ers head coach. After such a successful first season, the honeymoon is over for Harbaugh and now he needs to live up to the standards he set this year.

When Harbaugh left Stanford last year for the big leagues, he took over a 49ers team that was coming off a 6-10 season and didn't have a quarterback or an identity to rely on. Not much was expected of San Francisco in the 48-year-old coach's first season, but the Niners surprised everyone, posting a 13-3 record before upsetting the New Orleans Saints in the divisional round of the playoffs.

The 49ers lost 20-17 in overtime against the New York Giants in the NFC title game on Sunday, ending what was a wildly successful first season as an NFL coach for Harbaugh. But now comes the hard part: repeating that success.

San Francisco's fans will now expect the team to be even better next year, because in the NFL if you are not improving you're falling back. People in San Francisco should be demanding even more next season, which means if the team doesn't reach the Super Bowl it will be a disappointment. 

Harbaugh surely knows all of this, the question is, how will he handle the pressure of coaching a favorite that opponents are gunning for? He's overcome most challenges that have been presented to him as a head coach to this point, so it will be interesting to see how he runs things next season.