San Francisco 49ers' Harbaugh Bests Philadelphia Eagles with Huge Comeback

After the last win on the road, most commentators had the 49ers losing to the mighty, if stumbling Eagles.

But then the teacher kept the class in after school—for a whole week.  They motored over to Youngstown, Ohio, and spent the week practicing and sightseeing around the DeBartolo hometown. It gave them some time to practice their lessons.  As important, it gave them time to get to know one another.  This is what psychiatrists like to call “bonding."

Bonding is important for a football team, or any group involved in team sports.  So important, that during another low time for an old 49er team, Bill Walsh had the practice field’s small lake filled with fish, and had the whole team spend an entire day fishing elbow to elbow and cooking the catch over open fires. 

The banter that happened while fishing had the effect Walsh wanted.  His team got to know one another and lost a lot of inhibitions with one another in the process.  Team friction was reduced. They bonded.  And went on to the playoffs.

People who get to know one another on a personal, non-professional basis work better together.

It establishes team morale, team cohesiveness and eliminates a lot of small personal conflicts.  People who find they have things in common tend to like and depend on one another more easily.  Obviously, it worked for the 49ers.

"It was just a different mentality," Smith said. "Not the finger pointing. Not the 'here we go again.' Not that, 'It's not me.' Kind of everyone rallying around each other. Just such a better team atmosphere, team attitude." — SF Gate.

I have written before of the Harbaugh strategy for bringing the team along lesson by lesson, play by play.  His method is to allow the team to become comfortable with one level of play before reaching for the next level.  A few plays are learned and practiced for one game, a few more for the next. Plays get a bit more complicated each game.

I mentioned that the 49ers were at the elementary-school level at that time in the season.  Sunday, in the second half of the game in the Eagles aerie, they graduated to high school, skipping junior high altogether.  At one time, they looked so good the Eagles fans began booing their home team.

Nearly every team member on the field stood out at one time or another during the last half of the game.  Gore and Hunter got their mutual team effort together in a way that must have shocked the Eagles. 

Alex Smith had a quarterback rating of 158.3 in the third quarter.  Michael Crabtree showed a skill and gumption that removed the stigma of holdouts, injuries and rookie attitude.  Josh Morgan made great catches in clutch plays. 

The tight ends were great, as usual, but this game they had a supporting cast to work with.  Eight people caught Alex Smith passes as he spread them around as needed.

During the game, and the DVR playbacks, I kept notes of the notable players and their excellent plays.  It was so long I either had to scrap it or do a 53-page slideshow.

The defense came alive, with the Smith defensive duo, Aldon and Justin, combining with others to harass, hurry and even sack one of the best escape artists among quarterbacks in the NFL.

The offensive line shook off criticism and performed with consistency and effectiveness, showing us who wept at their past performances that they are now for real.

All in all, a great comeback on the road against a first-ranked team, which, though they’ve had some bad luck lately, still had a 20-point lead at the half.

The 49ers are a team again.