San Francisco 49ers: Jim Harbaugh Is the Coach Who Cried Quarterback

For the San Francisco 49ers, the 2011 season came to end prematurely. 

After their thrilling victory over the New Orleans Saints, Alex Smith and company lost on an overtime field goal by New York Giant’s kicker Lawrence Tynes.  The game was plagued by heavy rain throughout and Candlestick was seemingly in danger of floating away into the Pacific before kickoff.   

But for those of you enamored by Smith’s two comeback drives in the divisional game, ask any Redskins fan about Gregg Williams’ patented bend-don’t-break defense.  This season’s 30th ranked pass defense looked anemic in the fourth quarter.  If anyone was expecting a repeat performance by Smith on Sunday against the Giants pass rush, they were sorely mistaken.  

While the NFC Championship game wasn’t his best performance by any stretch of the imagination, this season was viewed as a renaissance for Alex Smith by many. 

For a QB with a career 19-31 record going into the lockout with a rookie second round pick on the depth chart right behind him, the odds weren't good.

Alex Smith seemed to be finally maturing into the player everyone thought he should be when he was drafted first overall in 2005. 

The truth is that Jim Harbaugh did more to protect the 49ers from Alex Smith than the former Utah Ute did to propel his team throughout the year.  The rookie head coach spent all season convincing his team that they had a real live quarterback and not a game manager.  Even the two Johns in Denver gave up that campaign once they realized no one was falling for it.   

Smith was 20th in the NFL for passing attempts with roughly 27 attempts per game.  He was also sacked a league- (and career-) high 44 times.  As a former QB who threw 117 picks in his 14-year NFL career, Jim Harbaugh ingrained in his signal caller the importance of winning the turnover battle.   

The former Stanford coach went into the 2011 season with a game plan: don’t allow Alex Smith to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The San Francisco 49ers ended the 2011 regular season with the league's 4th best defense and 8th best running attack.   

The candidate for Coach of Year showed how committed he was to this ruse when he said during a press conference that not only is Alex Smith a Pro Bowl quarterback but he is a viable long-term option for the 49ers.  While it may have worked for the 2011 season, Jim Harbaugh might not have to cry quarterback in 2012 with Colin Kaepernick starting.  

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