With Geep Chryst as OC, 49ers' New Coaching Staff Is Far Too Familiar

The San Francisco 49ers decided three straight trips to the NFC Championship Game and one to the Super Bowl weren't enough to secure Jim Harbaugh’s employment.

They decided the better path forward was an inexperienced head coach in Jim Tomsula who could be controlled instead of a coach who had a 44-19-1 regular-season record over four years. Harbaugh even managed to cobble together a 2014 season that was, by definition, average at 8-8 despite the crumbling dysfunction around him.

They decided change was necessary and a new direction would restore the proper balance of power while also fixing what ails a regressing offense.

Yet the fresh look is awfully familiar, and the most important hire of the offseason is stale. By reportedly settling for Geep Chryst and making the former quarterbacks coach their new offensive coordinator, the 49ers once again favored continuity over change. 

It’s a move that lacks bravery, and if it also lacks ingenuity, the Tomsula experiment will end quickly in a cloud of regret.

Bleacher Report NFL Insider Jason Cole spoke with three 49ers players, and they all expressed disappointment. “They were disgusted in certain ways,” Cole reported. “They believe this is just a sign that management has chosen to go incredibly cheap in terms of replacing the coaches who left.”

So basically, the 49ers are your frugal uncle who once bought you a Game Joy for Christmas. It’s not hard to connect those dots after their top-three coaching vacancies were filled with internal promotions.

Chryst’s expected promotion was first reported by NFL Network’s Albert Breer late Wednesday night. Much like Tomsula’s ascension up San Francisco’s coaching ladder, the Chryst decision is the conclusion of a process that ended where it began. He's a consolation prize or a participation ribbon.

He comes with limited and distant previous offensive coordinator experience and a history that’s less than encouraging for a run-oriented team.

Defensively the 49ers needed someone to babysit what the departed Vic Fangio created after his unit somehow ranked fifth overall in yards allowed per game in 2014, even with linebackers NaVorro Bowman and Patrick Willis out for all or most of the season. That’s why a promotion from within and continuity made sense there. Two advanced minds on that side of the ball are now atop the 49ers’ coaching hierarchy between Tomsula and new defensive coordinator Eric Mangini.

But offensively having that same continuity through Chryst feels safe—a little too safe in an area where creativity and guidance are desperately needed, and it makes the move away from Harbaugh even more curious.

Like Tomsula and Mangini, Chryst is a holdover from the Harbaugh coaching regime. He’s also been Colin Kaepernick’s position coach during the quarterback’s entire NFL career. There's an overarching theme of familiarity here and staying with what's comfortable.

Eventually at least a spoonful of risk needs to be digested because that’s how a new path is created. A core malfunction doesn’t reverse itself with the same coach at the helm who directly oversaw Kaepernick’s sputtering season and by extension had significant influence over an offense that scored less than 20 points eight times this season.

Under Chryst’s watch Kaepernick’s development stagnated. His central flaws have remained in place: He still struggles to scan the field and go through his reads, which too often result in poor decisions and eyes that stay firmly glued to one primary option.

Year	Points per game	Yards/Pass	Team passer rating
2014	19.1 (25th)	7.0 (20th)	86.3 (18th)
2013	25.4 (11th)	7.7 (7th)	91.7 (9th)

If it’s done with the proper diligence, inviting some degree of risk can add life and ignite an offense when the right levers are pulled.

It seemed like the 49ers were taking the necessary steps to make a calculated plunge by chasing after Adam Gase. He was interviewed by Niners general manager Trent Baalke for over eight hours during the head coach search, according to CSN Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco. Even after Tomsula was promoted the 49ers still maintained contact with Gase as an offensive coordinator candidate.

Gase was the architect of an offense in Denver that worked around quarterback Peyton Manning’s declining arm strength by emphasizing screens and high-percentage short passes. His most impressive coordinator tap-dancing came this season when Manning played through an injury, and the Broncos quickly transitioned to a run-based attack. Running back C.J. Anderson didn’t start a game until Week 11, yet he still finished with 1,175 yards from scrimmage at 5.5 per touch.

That quick-strike passing attack was surely appealing for Baalke and 49ers owner Jed York because of their quarterback who needs to be rebuilt. Maiocco told 95.7 The Game that San Francisco’s top suits “wouldn’t take no for an answer” while chasing Gase.

Eventually, they took no for an answer.

Gase accepted the same position with the Chicago Bears, where the pull of continuing to work under John Fox was too strong.

When the equally hot pursuit of Rob Chudzinski failed after he was retained by the Indianapolis Colts and rumblings of a Marc Trestman hire evaporated into the atmosphere, the Chryst safety blanket was there waiting.

Maybe in a larger role Chryst can feed skeptics like myself and others a healthy diet of delicious crow. He did, after all, dream up the now famous “Vernon Post” play which ended in a touchdown pass to tight end Vernon Davis to clinch a 2012 divisional-round win over the New Orleans Saints with 14 seconds left.

Chryst's few past public comments hint at the right approach with Kaepernick, one that will highlight his strengths while also pushing his growth. Prior to the Super Bowl in 2013 he spoke glowingly to Sports Illustrated’s Peter King about Kaepernick’s unique sense for the read-option and how it helps him thrive as a mobile quarterback.

“His ability to present the ball, if you will—and for the running back to cover the ball and not pull on the ball—there’s a feel you get,” he told King (via Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News). “That’s one of his unique skills.”

That perspective fills 49ers hearts with hope after a season when Kaepernick’s stalled development was caused in part by being placed in situations not suited for his skill set. Under former offensive coordinator Greg Roman the 49ers strayed from the read-option far too often, leaving Kaepernick exposed in the pocket to absorb 52 sacks.

That was the league’s second-highest total, and it easily shattered Kaepernick’s previous single-season high (which was 39 sacks).

But then there’s the matter of San Francisco’s red-zone offense. We can get a sampling of Chryst’s play-calling ability in that doomed area because of his heavy involvement. As Grant Cohn of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat noted, the 49ers’ red-zone offense never ranked higher than 15th under Chryst.

In 2014 the 49ers scored touchdowns on only 43.2 percent of their red-zone opportunities, awful enough to rank 29th.

The goal now is to salvage Kaepernick’s career, which was always going to be the measuring stick for any offensive coordinator hire or promotion.

More change is likely coming too, with wide receiver Michael Crabtree and running back Frank Gore both pending free agents for a cap-crunched team. Davis could also be cut to relieve some of that cap pressure.

Roster change can be weathered, and new parts can be inserted. The potential problems are what they’re being plugged into and their offensive leader who was already part of the previously flawed system.