NFL Coach of the Year: Why Jim Harbaugh Was the Only Logical Choice

No offense to the other NFL Coach of the Year candidates, there really wasn't any drama in the announcement at the awards show this evening. Jim Harbaugh won and that is the only way that it could have possibly played out.

The San Francisco 49ers were a complete and utter mess just one year ago. They had just fired Mike Singletary prior to the 2010 season finale, were without a true general manager and coming off a disappointing 6-10 season.

Enter into the equation Jim Harbaugh, who had just led the Stanford Cardinal to an Orange Bowl victory over Virginia Tech. He was the most sought-after head coach on the market.The Miami Dolphins were really interested, but in the end Harbaugh made the decision to stay close to home.

The NFL lockout really hindered the building process of the 49ers, probably more than any other team in the NFL. Jim Harbaugh didn't have minicamps or organized team activities in order to get acquainted with his new team or install what would be an entirely new play book on both sides of the ball.

Rather, he had to do all this in just a couple weeks prior to the start of the regular season. By all accounts this was going to be a year that the rebuilding 49ers were going to struggle a great deal. In fact, it really looked that way after a horrendous performance against the New Orleans Saints in the preseason opener.

The 49ers fans were planning on being extremely depressed on Sundays throughout the NFL season. To the surprise of many, myself included, the 49ers jumped out of the gate quickly.

This is a team that relied on two Ted Ginn special teams touchdowns to defeat the Seattle Seahawks in the season opener and they came an overtime loss to the Dallas Cowboys away from starting 2-0.

There were still skeptics, myself included. How could this team capture the NFC West with a rookie head coach and "bust" at quarterback? Surely, they were going to drop back down to earth during a two game road trip back East, usually a killer for West Coast teams.

What followed was nothing short of amazing. After struggling a great deal against the Cincinnati Bengals in an ugly 13-8 win, San Francisco headed to Philadelphia to take on the "Dream Team." This is when they were going to be proved "frauds."

Well, they looked every bit the part in a disastrous first-half performance that saw San Francisco fall behind by 20 points. It was the same ole' song and dance for this team, uninspiring play and the like. The second half, however, saw San Francisco run off 21 consecutive points in a comeback for the ages. The 49ers would go on to win eight consecutive games, cementing their status as one of the best teams in the NFL.

The 49ers went on to finish the regular season 13-3, becoming the first team to clinch their division. Still, there were skeptics saying this team wasn't quite ready for prime time. They proved everyone wrong in a stunning come-from-behind victory against the New Orleans Saints in the NFC divisional playoffs.

Alex Smith led San Francisco on two lead-changing touchdown drives in the final four minutes of the game, becoming the first quarterback in NFL playoff history to accomplish that feat. The comeback was completed on a last-second touchdown to Vernon Davis, sending the 49ers to their first NFC Championship Game in 14 seasons.

The 49ers came up short against the New York Giants in a shot for a Super Bowl appearance. Despite the heart-sinking overtime loss, Jim Harbaugh proved everyone why he is among the best young head coaches in the NFL.

What he did with this team was nothing short of amazing. He groomed a quarterback, Alex Smith, who had been labeled a bust, into one of the most consistent quarterbacks in the league. He formed what I consider to be the best coaching staff in the league.

Not only this, Jim Harbaugh turned around a franchise that was bordering on irrelevance into a truly elite team, right up there with the New England Patriots, New York Giants and Green Bay Packers.

In short, if there was a Coach of the Decade award Harbaugh would have easily won it with this single-season performance. There is absolutely no doubt that he deserved the Coach of the Year award. I could care less that the New England Patriots are making their fifth Super Bowl appearance under Bill Belichick or that the Green Bay Packers started the season 13-0. We all expected those teams to be good. Absolutely no one could have conjured up the 49ers winning 14 games this season. Absolutely no one.

Moving forward, you can expect Harbaugh to win a couple more of these awards. Especially if San Francisco continues their progression towards being one of the best teams in the NFL in 2012. Which is surely to happen.