Amid Jim Harbaugh Adversity, 49ers Turn to Ground Game and Dominate Once Again

Jim Harbaugh might be an overbearing, power-hungry jerk who’s difficult to deal with and even harder to tolerate. Or he could be the sort of motivating force who finds success through an obsession with the smallest details.

There could be times when that detail-oriented existence is annoying in a very Steve Jobs-ian way, and Harbaugh becomes an elite football mind who demands similar attention to minutiae. Maybe that’s a passing moment, though, one weathered by players and fellow coaches and trumped by other characteristics which define his success.

I don’t know, and neither do you. What I do feel confident in, however, is the time-honored belief that winning will always cure whatever ails a football team. That's especially true when it’s done through another return to running roots, which is what the San Francisco 49ers did Sunday during their second-straight win, this time over the Kansas City Chiefs.

How much can a single game mean in the grand scheme of the larger-franchise direction with its head coach?

Go ahead and ponder that deep philosophical question while you consider the other scenario from Jay Glazer which overshadows Sunday’s win: Even if the 49ers go to a fourth-straight NFC Championship Game this year, and even if they win a Super Bowl under Harbaugh, he won’t be back in 2015 during the final year of his contract.

At first Glazer's words during the countdown to another football Sunday were jarring. But being shocked about any Harbaugh development in San Francisco is getting increasingly difficult.

This is a head coach who was the subject of trade talks with the Cleveland Browns for at least a few brief, fleeting moments.

Last February, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam told Jarrett Bell of USA Today there was an opportunity that “didn’t materialize,” but any discussion taking place at all is meaningful even if the 49ers' response at the time was "NOPE," according to Matt Barrows from The Sacramento Bee.

Throughout the offseason there were also reports of a quickly deteriorating relationship between Harbaugh and general manager Trent Baalke, two alpha males in an organization where only one can exist, apparently.

And now between Glazer and Deion Sanders (known far more for being amused with his own jokes than being news-breaking), we’ve had two straight weeks with reports of players reaching the limit of their Harbaugh tolerance.

Yet, also for two straight weeks, the business of winning has continued. Each time it's been with more Frank Gore, more Carlos Hyde, more running and then even more running.

Like Week 4 in a win over the Philadelphia Eagles, on the scoreboard San Francisco didn’t dominate Kansas City. The 49ers won both games by less than a touchdown, with a combined score of 48-38. Their largest lead in either game? Five points, which is also the margin of victory in both games.

But although the numbers on a scoreboard ultimately matter most, they can also tell filthy lies. Here are some far more truthful numbers from the past two weeks.

	Time of possession	Total rushing yards	Yds/carry	Total yards vs. opponent	First downs vs. opponent
Week 4 vs. Eagles	42:17	218	5.2	407-213	20-11
Week 5 vs. Chiefs	36:04	171	4.3	357-265	22-14

Having 22 second-half points over a two-week stretch would be merely alright and pretty mediocre under normal circumstances. But please recall this 49ers team was regularly embarrassed during the second half over its first three games this season and outscored 52-3.

Call it a baby step if you’d like, but outscoring the Eagles and Chiefs 22-7 in the second half is a pretty swift reversal of that early trend. And it’s come with Gore all up in grills.

Gore now has 282 total yards during those wins, 226 of which have come on the ground at a pace of 5.4 per carry (5.9 against the Chiefs). Of his 18 carries Sunday, 11 went for gains of five yards or more, and it was also the first time he rushed for over 100 yards in back-to-back weeks since 2011.

	Rushing yards	Yds/carry
First three games	139	4.0
Last two games	226	5.4

Gore ran with so much power that he made defenders forget it’s their job to tackle the guy with the ball.

That chugging has kept the clock ticking—and fast. The 49ers thoroughly thumped Philadelphia last week on the game clock while controlling the ball for nearly three full quarters. They didn’t quite match that Sunday against the Chiefs, but they still had a possession advantage of just over 12 minutes (closing in on a full quarter).

Even that overall possession time tells a partial truth. After the first quarter the 49ers controlled the ball for 30:00 minutes, which included a 93-yard drive to end the first half.

The 49ers’ ball-hogging was particularly glaring in the fourth quarter. After a drive to begin the quarter ended in a field goal and a narrow 19-17 San Francisco lead, a defensive stop was needed, ideally followed by a long, grinding drive.

That would be routine for 49ers teams of the past three years. But this one? Yes, also routine (lately at least).

The defense obliged, forcing a three-and-out. That was rare during the first half when the Chiefs converted six of their eight third-down attempts.

Then the 49ers' final drive began. Aided by a fake punt call that was infused with guts and glory, they marched along merrily for 14 plays, shaving off just shy of five minutes. The drive featured 45 rushing yards in total, highlighted by Gore’s run for 13 yards and a Colin Kaepernick scramble for a first down at midfield.

From Kaepernick’s laser throwing when needed to Gore’s hammering (including 70 rushing yards in the second half) and a defense that held the opposing quarterback to only 5.6 yards per attempt while ending the game with an interception, this was a typical 49ers win during the Harbaugh era.

An era that may not last much longer, even if the winning does.